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Zero time Tony Award winner • Production Assistant • Serial rewatcher
I don’t take my list of favorite films lightly. It is thoughtfully curated and if I’m being honest, there is a backstory to each movie and why it has an impact on me. Booksmart is one of those films that came along a few years too late for me. I wish I had this movie when I was in high school. I was Molly and Amy. I didn’t party, I didn’t fit in with the “popular” crowd.
The point is this movie is everything when it comes to high school. The only flicks that I had about high school were unrealistic. Booksmart is so fresh and witty, Hollywood finally made a movie that wasn’t a remake. (I love a good remake. This fact wasn’t a slap in the face to those.) If you haven’t watched the film yet here’s a recap. Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are about to graduate. They never partied and worked hard to get into extremely good colleges. When they find out that all of their peers who partied and had fun in school also got into extremely good colleges, Molly and Amy decide to go all out the night before graduation.
The character development is top-notch. As the film opens, the audience is met with the classic stereotypes. Nick (Mason Gooding) and Annabelle/Triple-A (Molly Gordon) are the popular kids. Gigi (Billie Lourd) and Jared (Skyler Gisondo) are the spoiled rich kids. George (Noah Galvin) and Alan (Austin Crute) are the theater kids. Once Triple-A tells Molly that not only does she have a good “social life”, but she also got 1560 on the SAT every stereotype is thrown out the window. As Molly and Amy learn more about their classmates, their classmates’ opinions on them change as well. I won’t spoil anything else for you.
In the end, there’s no winning or losing between the characters. The popular kids don’t experience any type of justice being served to them and like I said before, it’s a fresh take on what high school actually can be. Contrary to just about every other teen movie. The film is available on Hulu and I promise it won’t disappoint. The comedic timing is incredible and these are some of the most talented young actors that I’ve ever seen. They are equally some of my favorite actors, but I swear I’m not being biased.
Did you see the film? If you did, were your views on high school movies changed in any way? Let us know @TheCinemaSpot.
Zero time Tony Award winner • Production Assistant • Serial rewatcher
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