Blitzkrieg
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'Booksmart': Film Review | SXSW 2019
From Bridesmaids to Trainwreck to Blockers, SXSW has made a habit of premiering big, commercial rebuttals to the idiotic refrain that "women aren't funny." But you don't have to be an absolutist about representation to wonder what these movies would look like if they weren't just about women and girls but by them. The answer arrives with swagger in Booksmart, a hilarious, blazingly paced teen comedy that also happens to mark the feature directing debut of Olivia Wilde. As raucous as Superbad and more colorfully stocked with underexposed talent (thanks to the brilliant eye of casting director Allison Jones, who, come to think of it, cast Superbad as well), this film shares that one's basic premise — two shy high school besties try to make some memories on one wild night — but is its own creature, one whose peripheral characters are full of surprises.
SXSW Film Review: ‘Booksmart’
Credit Wilde — who quietly practiced on a couple of shorts prior to this — for sustaining both the laughter and the energy throughout, and for pulling off several bold surprises along the way, including a stop-motion sequence that employs Barbie-like figurines to unexpectedly empowering effect. In this year’s class of first-time feature directors, Wilde handily earns the title of “Most Likely to Succeed.”
From Bridesmaids to Trainwreck to Blockers, SXSW has made a habit of premiering big, commercial rebuttals to the idiotic refrain that "women aren't funny." But you don't have to be an absolutist about representation to wonder what these movies would look like if they weren't just about women and girls but by them. The answer arrives with swagger in Booksmart, a hilarious, blazingly paced teen comedy that also happens to mark the feature directing debut of Olivia Wilde. As raucous as Superbad and more colorfully stocked with underexposed talent (thanks to the brilliant eye of casting director Allison Jones, who, come to think of it, cast Superbad as well), this film shares that one's basic premise — two shy high school besties try to make some memories on one wild night — but is its own creature, one whose peripheral characters are full of surprises.
SXSW Film Review: ‘Booksmart’
Credit Wilde — who quietly practiced on a couple of shorts prior to this — for sustaining both the laughter and the energy throughout, and for pulling off several bold surprises along the way, including a stop-motion sequence that employs Barbie-like figurines to unexpectedly empowering effect. In this year’s class of first-time feature directors, Wilde handily earns the title of “Most Likely to Succeed.”
