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Rewatched by Victor Pro
Booksmart 2019
Booksmart is an incredibly sweet and funny film. A pretty confident, although not at all perfect, debut with lots of great laughs and heart. I’ve seen the film being called the female-Superbad, which is honestly a pretty apt title, and honestly, I would even say I prefer this film by quite a bit! Wilde gets some pretty great performances out of these girls, she has moments of pretty interesting direction and effective stylistic choices, and this film just has so much heart in the two leads awesome chemistry.
I have quite a bit of complaints, and I will get those out of the way first, as there is more I love about the film than dislike. The film gets a little too ridiculous and far-fetched for me near the end. I was mostly convinced for each time the girls stepped out of their comfort zone, but it just got too far-fetched for me at the end, not only in how far they went but also how passively they reacted to their consequences. It became too drastic and unconvincing of a character change, at least for me. You’ll know it when you see it. Also there are some moments of incredibly distracting and unnecessary editing near the beginning of the film that really bothered me. The film has a good sense of flow for mostly the entire film, but it kind of lost it near the end, and the last few scenes weren’t incredibly fulfilling for me, especially considering how fulfilling previous scenes were and the expectations I would have for these later scenes weren’t met. I just wasn’t as touched as I would have liked to have been. The film drops the ball a little bit near the ending, due to this unrealistic character change, not completely satisfying scenes, and just an awkward flow near the end where it kept feeling like they were wrapping it up, but then there were more scenes. Also, and I am not nit-picky enough for this to impact my score, but my girlfriend pointed out that it doesn’t really make sense that the tall and slim teacher just so happens to have an outfit that perfectly fits Beanie Feldstein’s character in her car. Pretty funny, lol.
So yeah, the film isn’t perfect and it has some moments that really bother me, however this film has a plethora of shining moments that make this film really great and definitely worth seeing. As I mentioned earlier, the chemistry between the two leads is absolutely charming and endearing. They both give some pretty great performances, with their roles allowing them to show lots of range in their acting, due to what the characters go through. But yeah, there friendship was so convincing and touching at moments, and it made me feel all soft and fuzzy. The soundtrack was really great and a ton of fun. They add a lot of humour to some scenes, and the way the songs were mixed was pretty effective in delivering some effective and clever moments of comedy. It’s nothing you hadn’t really seen before, but its harmless, and it really is a ton of fun. Yeah, I have heard the complaint that the songs don’t play for very long and I can definitely see this point, even though it didn’t really bother me at all, personally. Oh, and I lost my FUCKING MIND when Death Grips came on. Wasn’t expecting I’ve Seen Footage in a film like this in a million years, but LAD UP! There were some scenes that had me really impressed in how they were presented. There are a few scenes that kind of briefly change the genre of the film (to put it vaguely, without spoiling) and they are presented incredibly creatively and impressively. There is also a pretty effective long-take at one point of the film that really immerses you into the distress of the characters during the argumentative and emotional climax of the film. I was really impressed with such an effective decision! Booksmart offers a lot, and it is one hell of a successful comedy. Some of the circumstances/jokes, although sometimes predictable, are laugh-out-loud hilarious when seeing them play out.
So yeah! Booksmart is a pretty great coming of age film, and its message, while simple, is one that I personally strongly identify with and think is important. I think its important to strike a balance of working hard and having fun as well as being reserved/cautious and letting loose. Booksmart tackles this through an endearing friendship and some great comedy, and I found the female perspective of the high school experience to be incredibly pleasant in this film, and its portrayal felt genuine and authentic, as well as a nice counterpoint to, as well as a new-and-improved version of films like Superbad.
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