5/28/19 - Booksmart (2019) - 6+/7-/10

This was a good movie; an interesting and intelligent coming-of-age teen comedy. But, as the voice of a generation amazing film, I just didn’t see it. I kept waiting for that “WOW” shoe to drop, but it never did. I liked it, and it is so much smarter and wisely crafted than your standard teen farce, but it wasn’t as overtly funny as it demanded or able to rise above as it was professed. I do find it quite fun, refined and passionate, but it missed true excellence.

As a “raunchy” female lead comedy, it didn’t go for the reverse “male gaze”. In fact, it tried to avoid the underlying dumbed down HS comedy trappings in general. It was astute, perhaps even a bit emotionally sheltered, but evocative and classy. I didn’t necessarily expect that, which I appreciated.

I liked how it steered from the “cool vs. nerds” or class cliques hierarchy tropes. There are groupings, but there is a level of equality that underlies the core players and their crews. Similarly, it also wasn’t about virginity or drugs or “winning”, it was about experiencing and self proving. Perhaps a more millennial HS raunch com: one about living life more fully than acquiring something or breaching another video game-esque level. The entirety felt more representative of the ideal now and much more enlightened than any of its predecessors. A moment like the drug dream sequence and its social commentary is actually speaking to something worthy & valid - such comedy that says something for a reason is so worthy.

I do wish that they had gotten into two key facets though. One, there is no discussion of the wealth gaps here and how those play into the character dynamics. A discussion of the work put in by one key character to be “on the same level” as the seemingly rich kids she is around, especially in our current climate, should have been touched upon. Two, the ability of everyone in this rando Cali school to go to every major university in America is more of a punchline than a legitimate story element. Why isn’t it discussed, especially when so much of the film feels valid and has a reasonable sense of tropey cinematic realism?

Biggest problem was while I respected it, I wasn’t laughing. Perhaps it is some kind of cinematic Madonna-whore complex, writ large with HS comedy. I wanted the excitement and lusty vigor of belly-laughs not simply the admiration for the considerate quality. It didn’t need to be more Dude Where’s My Car, but it did need more chuckles than Ladybird. Perhaps it was smarter, but its sibling Superbad was much funnier, despite pushing the more uniform agenda.

Granted, I wasn’t rolling on the floor of the theater, but it was a funny and a tremendously good time. Personally, I welcomed the feminine touch on this genre and the intelligent elegance that graced this film. It was a breath of fresh air, and though not as amazing as I had hoped from my high expectations, it still delivered.