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Booksmart (2019) 7.2/10
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R | 1h 42min | Comedy | 24 May 2019 (USA)

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Title: Booksmart (2019)
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'Booksmart' Cast Pick the Best Female Buddy Comedies
User Polls

Golden Globes 2020 — Best Movi

Actress, Musical or Comedy

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Character from Film

Best 2019 Movie Without an

Oscar Nod

Most Overrated Movie of

2019

Director Olivia Wilde and her Booksmart cast revealed some of their favorite female friendships
in movies and TV, and discuss what makes a female buddy comedy click.
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An introverted teenage girl tries to
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eighth grade year before leaving to
start high school.
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Storyline
On the eve of their high school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize
they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the
girls try to cram four years of fun into one night.
Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords: awkward flirting | last day of school | night on the town | teen comedy |
sexual humor | See All (456) »

Taglines: Getting Straight A's. Giving Zero F's.

Genres: Comedy

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content and language throughout, drug use and drinking - all
involving teens | See all certifications »
Parents Guide: View content advisory »

Edit
Did You Know?
Trivia
Many young actors were not relatives of industry professionals or stars, but were fans of the
script and auditioned for supporting roles including Jacob Elordi who disclosed auditioning for
the feature film in an interview along with Eline Powell and Caylee Cowan who disclosed
meeting in the waiting room at a callback audition. See more »

Goofs
When Principal Brown collects Amy and Molly in his car he makes a voice memo on his phone,
the noise that is played to signify the start of the recording is the iPhone "siri" (digital personal
assistant) alert noise, which would not indicate that the phone was recording (rather waiting
for an instruction from the user). In addition to this, Principal Brown does not appear to have
an iPhone, this noise would not come from a non-Apple device. See more »

Quotes
Jared: Sorry I'm late. Traffic was nuts.
See more »

Crazy Credits
At the beginning of the end credits, the main actors are seen getting hit in the face with water
balloons in slow motion. See more »

Connections
Referenced in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Remembering Russi Taylor (2019) See more »

Soundtracks
Unchained Melody
Written by Hy Zaret and Alex North
Performed by Lykke Li
Courtesy of LL Recordings
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
See more »

User Reviews
I don't get it
15 May 2019 | by ofumalow – See all my reviews

Of course, as usual the ten-star advance "user reviews" here are from people who
"mysteriously" have never written an IMBD review before--i.e. studio shills. But "Booksmart"
has gotten great early reviews, and several people I know who saw early screenings really did
love it. So I went in fully expecting to enjoy it, and was dismayed when immediately--I mean,
even before the opening title--the film was making "Funny, huh? Wasn't that funny?!?" noises
despite nothing particularly funny happening. I'll give Olivia Wilde points for making a very
colorful and energetic movie that might indeed convince a lot of people through sheer high
spirits that it's a great comedy. But instead it felt just strenuous to me, trying too hard to
cover the fact that the funny, clever, witty material wasn't actually there.

The premise is ridiculous--bookworm protagonists are horrified to discover that after all their
sacrifices for the future, all the party-hearty types at their high school ALSO got into Ivy
League schools. This would make sense if it took place in a wealthy community where
everyone was a "legacy" student thanks for their family's donations. But the movie makes a
point of singling out two characters as the only "truly rich" ones here. Those two, like every
character save the two lead girls, are complete "SNL"-style caricatures. What's worse, they all
also seem to be played by actors who are about a decade too old, once again apart from the
two lead girls.

Even so, the premise and the casting and everything might have worked if "Booksmart" were
an outright farce. But it seems to be aiming to be sorta-kinda "real," while the characters
nonetheless behave like no teenagers past or present. Everything here is so over-amped and
contrived for effect, yet the ingenious comedy situations and bright lines that approach might
have served are nowhere to be found.

Like I said, I don't get it--it's a very lively and well-crafted movie that nonetheless felt
completely phony and unfunny to be. It's not boring, but I have no idea what people who like
it are responding to, beyond the fact that "'Superbad' for high school senior girls" is probably
good enough for many. But I liked "Superbad" well enough, and this movie just did nothing for
me. You could say it aims for a mix of "Superbad" and John Hughes, but those movies do a
much better job turning recognizable teenage life into farce with some heart, and if Wilde
intended something similar (I'm not sure what she intended, beyond punching across every
scene as if she might never be allowed to direct again), she misses the mark. A for effort, C for
derivative/uninspired content, and D for over-effortfully trying to hide that empty content. It's
like a student paper with a very splashy cover but nothing original or thoughtful inside.

626 of 1,099 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No | Report this

Review this title | See all 750 user reviews »

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: what's the name of the song that Amy sang in the beginning of the movie when they
were to eat a cake on a top of a building I think? Amy sang it just 2 sentences and stopped
when she played an instrumence.

Q: The two girls invoke "Malala" during arguments. What does Malala mean?
See more »

Edit
Details
Official Sites: Annapurna Pictures [United States] | Official Facebook [United Kingdom] | See
more »
Country: USA
Language: English | Mandarin | Spanish
Release Date: 24 May 2019 (USA) See more »
Also Known As: Booksmart See more »
Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA See more »

Edit
Box Office
Budget: $6,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $6,933,620, 26 May 2019
Gross USA: $22,680,962
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $24,863,452
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits
Production Co: Annapurna Pictures, Gloria Sanchez Productions See more »
Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs
Runtime: 102 min
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Color: Color
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
See full technical specs »

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