Booksmart. (15.)
Directed by Olivia Wilde.
Starring Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Skyler Gisondo, and Jason Sudeikis. 102 mins. Out on Monday.
Millennials are the Generation Whine that makes the rest of us feel a bit less guilty about messing up the planet. Having ****ed their future all they have is now: this is their time, which means that this is their time to do their high school comedy, to show us what a Mean Girls, a Clueless or a Dazed and Confused would look like in 2019. It's the last day of high school and the two most conscientious students, having secured their places in top colleges, decide that on the night before graduation it is finally time for them to party.
Booksmart is charming, endearing and very funny. Primarily this is down to the two leads Feldstein and Dever. Feldstein, the tubby year president, is like a 21st century Ricki Lake. She has a portly certainty while Dever is waif uncertainty, officially out but uncirculated. Though the film is from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company and though the script is credited to four experienced screenwriters rather than some fresh new talent, unlike most high school comedies it doesn't feel nostalgic, like grown-ups looking back wistfully at the good old days.
There are still jocks and cliques and stoners and sex jokes just like all the previous high school comedies but everybody is so inclusive and tolerant. Of course, it probably helps that everybody is affluent. When the rich kids turn up they remark "here come the 1%" but nobody is going without here. They are entitled but forgiving. It's all rather nice, but in a nice way; the reasonableness doesn't make you sick. Even the Christian parents (Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte) with a lesbian daughter are understanding and tolerant. The kids are still backstabbers but their bitchiness is non-judgemental.
Directed by Olivia Wilde.
Starring Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Skyler Gisondo, and Jason Sudeikis. 102 mins. Out on Monday.
Millennials are the Generation Whine that makes the rest of us feel a bit less guilty about messing up the planet. Having ****ed their future all they have is now: this is their time, which means that this is their time to do their high school comedy, to show us what a Mean Girls, a Clueless or a Dazed and Confused would look like in 2019. It's the last day of high school and the two most conscientious students, having secured their places in top colleges, decide that on the night before graduation it is finally time for them to party.
Booksmart is charming, endearing and very funny. Primarily this is down to the two leads Feldstein and Dever. Feldstein, the tubby year president, is like a 21st century Ricki Lake. She has a portly certainty while Dever is waif uncertainty, officially out but uncirculated. Though the film is from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company and though the script is credited to four experienced screenwriters rather than some fresh new talent, unlike most high school comedies it doesn't feel nostalgic, like grown-ups looking back wistfully at the good old days.
There are still jocks and cliques and stoners and sex jokes just like all the previous high school comedies but everybody is so inclusive and tolerant. Of course, it probably helps that everybody is affluent. When the rich kids turn up they remark "here come the 1%" but nobody is going without here. They are entitled but forgiving. It's all rather nice, but in a nice way; the reasonableness doesn't make you sick. Even the Christian parents (Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte) with a lesbian daughter are understanding and tolerant. The kids are still backstabbers but their bitchiness is non-judgemental.
