Booksmart

Man I wish I saw this in theaters!

This was a great fun movie, I pretty much loved it from beginning to end. So this is Olivia Wilde's directorial debut centered around two teenage girls, Amy and Molly who decide to let loose the night before graduation and move onto college, and I have to say I flippin' love these girls. They're funny, they're intelligent, but they're not sticks in the mud or uptight, they act like teenagers, they can be weird and silly but still have real conversations with their friends. I thought the writing for the characters was incredibly well done, and the jokes and humor made me laugh so hard I sounded like a combination of a bull frog and Muttley from Wacky Races. That hard. No movie has made me laugh that hard ever, but not only did I laugh I got emotionally involved quick. Beanie Feldstein who I already loved in Lady Bird had so much time to shine in this movie, and I enjoyed Kaitlyn Dever from shows like Justified and Last Man Standing so I knew she was going to be a lot of fun in this. They have superb chemistry together and their friendship is one that I've experienced before so I grew attached to them and really enjoyed the ride with them. They mainly are trying to get to one big party but of course it quickly gets derailed and they encounter all sorts of weird people and situations, including one person who might be the best part of the entire movie, I'm not exactly sure who she is but she's played by Billie Lourd and is actually the best running gag I've seen in awhile. She just ends up at all these places way before Amy and Molly do, and she is completely off her rocker and I love everything about it. I will say however I had some massive issues with the movie. Now I'll be perfectly clear, I actually liked the fact that Amy was a lesbian, they don't overplay it and it's just a part of her character and I like that. However! The relationship the movie tries to project is just...wrong. So let me lay this situation out, Amy meets up with that bitchy character in every high school and then they argue about not really knowing each other before Amy kisses her on the lips. Hwhat? Granted she was in a bad place at the time emotionally so I can forgive a stupid decision but then they are about to have sex, and then my contempt grows. The situation ends badly and yet they both kinda want to be in a relationship together and I'm just wondering who thought that was needed in the script. Okay fine, it's a relatively new move I've never seen in a teen movie before, hell the closest we got to innovation was the weird quiet girl hook up with the jock in The Breakfast Club, but it just screams wrong to me. You don't try to screw some **** that you hate in high school, it's a stupid decision and I'd give them about 3 months before they break up. Second and most importantly, the ending. The bombshell drops that Amy will be leaving for Botswana for an entire year before she starts attending college and Molly has to say goodbye to her friend. I was having an emotional meltdown suffering friggin' PTSD from Lost In Translation and Her, to the point where I got so angry it almost ruined the movie for me. I mean, they totally don't just go their seperate ways and never see each other again for a whole year, but it dragged it out long enough to the point where I was legitimately concerned they were gonna pull that emotional card on me. That's how much I loved seeing this friendship between these two girls, I was gonna just flip out over a depressing ending to a fun movie, but the other side to that coin was well they just toyed with my emotions and now they can go to hell. I was seriously that upset, very few movies can make me that emotional but this one did. But I stepped away for a few days and gathered my thoughts, and yes you should see this movie. It is great fun, hilarious, and endearing despite the issues I took with it. Yes the ending made me have a breakdown and the relationship angle was just...are you serious, but it's a good movie perfect for a night in with friends. 3 stars, 7.5/10, go rent it and enjoy yourself.