Booksmart (film)

Booksmart is a 2019 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Olivia Wilde (in her directorial debut), from a screenplay by the writing team of Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman. It stars Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Jessica Williams, Will Forte, Lisa Kudrow, and Jason Sudeikis, and follows two graduating high school girls who set out to finally break the rules and party on their last day of classes. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are executive producers.

The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 10, 2019 and was theatrically released in the United States on May 24, 2019, by United Artists Releasing, to acclaim from critics.

Plot
Amy and Molly are two high school seniors who have been best friends since childhood but considered pretentious by their peers. Amy has been out for two years and has a crush on a girl named Ryan. Molly urges Amy to attempt to forge a relationship with her before they graduate. On the eve of their high school graduation, Molly overhears some of her peers making fun of her in the bathroom and confronts them. They tell her that not everything is about school and that they all got into good colleges despite their partying antics. Molly angrily tells Amy everything and says that they should have enjoyed their time in high school more. Molly convinces a reluctant Amy to join her in going to an end-of-year party held by Nick.

The pair realize that neither of them knows where Nick's party is hosted. Molly calls a Lyft and is picked up by Jared, a kindhearted and wealthy classmate who thinks that they want to go to the party he is hosting instead. He brings them to his yacht, where they stay for a few minutes before leaving after an encounter with his drug-crazed friend Gigi. The girls call a second Lyft and are shocked to be picked up by their principal, Jordan Brown. After accidentally playing pornography through his car speakers, Brown drops them off at their classmate George's house, thinking they wanted to go to his murder mystery party. The two encounter Gigi again, who reveals that the food that they ate on the yacht was drugged, and both Amy and Molly soon begin to trip and hallucinate that they are dolls. They escape the house and attempt to get the location of the party from a pizza delivery man, deducing only one house in the area will have had so many pizzas delivered there. He kicks them out of his car and chastises them for not thinking clearly about stranger danger. Amy accidentally leaves her phone in his car before he drives off. Molly's phone is nearly dead, lasting just long enough to call for help from their teacher and friend Ms. Fine, who gives them a change of clothes and a ride to Nick's party.

When they arrive, Amy goes to talk to Ryan and Molly goes to talk to Nick, her crush. Amy works up the confidence to talk to Ryan before finding her and Nick making out. Amy, embarrassed, wants to leave, but Molly refuses to let her. In her rage, Amy reveals that she was planning on taking a gap year to travel to Africa, as she resents how Molly always tries to control her life under the guise of pushing her to explore opportunities. The two loudly argue in front of their classmates, and Amy goes to the bathroom with a panic attack. She is found by Hope, whom many students find cruel. At first combative towards each other, Amy kisses Hope and they almost have sex but Amy drinks from a nearby cup and vomits on Hope, ruining their moment. Molly is driven home by Annabelle, a popular student with a reputation for promiscuity, and the two bond over the stereotypes that both have suffered from.

Molly wakes up on graduation day feeling ashamed of what happened between her and Amy. She discovers on her phone that everyone is talking about how cool Amy was for distracting police officers when they came to shut down Nick's party, allowing the rest of the students to escape. Molly visits Amy in jail and apologizes for her manipulative actions, leading to the pair's reconciliation. They realize that the delivery driver they encountered is a wanted serial killer and trade his information to get Amy out of jail. They take Jared's car to graduation where Molly gives an improvised farewell speech, receiving a round of applause.

A few days later, Molly helps Amy prepare for her trip to Africa. Hope comes to the door and gives Amy her number. Molly drives Amy to the airport and they share a tearful goodbye. As Molly drives away, Amy jumps in front of her car and they go for breakfast before Amy's flight.

Cast
Maya Rudolph voices Molly's meditative recordings in an uncredited appearance.

Development
An early version of the screenplay, Book Smart by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, was circulated in 2009; in 2014 Susanna Fogel revised the screenplay, rewriting one lead character as a lesbian and revising the story so the girls are not seeking boyfriends for the prom, but are going to an after-prom party.

Following the revisions, Annapurna Pictures purchased the screenplay and approached Gloria Sanchez Productions to produce it; Gloria Sanchez' Jessica Elbaum pitched the screenplay to Olivia Wilde, who read the screenplay and two days later expressed admiration for it. Megan Ellison, Chelsea Bernard, David Distenfeld, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Elbaum would serve as producers on the film. Screenwriter Katie Silberman was hired for more revisions in spring 2018, and to update the story. Silberman expressed a new concept: "What if the two friends realized that they did high school all wrong? What if they realized that everyone they thought just partied and wasted their high-school years were going to Ivy League schools just like them?"

Casting
In February 2018, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein joined the cast of the film. In May 2018, Billie Lourd and Skyler Gisondo joined the cast of the film. That same month, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Jessica Williams, Will Forte, Mike O'Brien, Mason Gooding, Noah Galvin, Diana Silvers, Austin Crute, Eduardo Franco, Molly Gordon, and Nico Hiraga joined the cast of the film.

Silvers was initially asked to audition for Ryan, but felt her appearance was not ideal for the character and auditioned for Hope instead. Wilde also urged Feldman and Dever to live together to develop a rapport. The two actresses were roommates in Los Angeles for 10 weeks. Wilde also asked the cast to read the screenplay and signal if they found dialogue that felt "inauthentic ... [and] rewrite it in your own voice". Silberman continued to write after casting, finding it easy to come up with dialogue to fit Feldman and Dever.

Filming
Principal photography began in May 2018 around the San Fernando Valley.

Release
It had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 10, 2019. It was released on May 24, 2019.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, Booksmart was released alongside Aladdin and Brightburn, and is projected to gross around $12 million from 2,505 theaters in its four-day opening weekend. The film made $2.5 million on its first day, including $875,000 from Thursday night previews.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% and an average rating of 8.34/10, with 189 out of 194 registered reviews being positive. The website's critical consensus reads: "Fast-paced, funny, and fresh, Booksmart does the seemingly impossible by adding a smart new spin to the coming-of-age comedy." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on reviews from 46 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 80%.

Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it a "refreshingly original take on the raunchy coming-of-age comedy" and praising Feldstein and Dever's chemistry.