Week 2 brings us to the coming of age comedy Booksmart. Will Oliva Wilde's first attempt in the director's chair be a raging success, or would we all rather she just stay in front of the camera? The only way to know for sure is to read on ahead. Welcome to The COARD. We like movies.
Roy: What is Booksmart about? That is an easy question but a difficult answer. It is not because the movie is everywhere and tries to do too many things instead of focusing on its strong points. On the contrary, Booksmart has layers to it, and all of them are strongly represented on the screen. Wilde deserves to take a bow for this. It's not just good for a first time actor turned director. It's good by any definition of the word. At its heart, it is a story of two high school graduates realizing that the path less traveled is rewarding, but also boring. Molly and Amy spent their entire high school career focused on getting into exclusive colleges, and as a result never experienced the fun that the weekend party scene has to offer. Cramming four years of partying into one epic night goes about how you would expect it to, and our main characters learn some valuable lessons along the way. If that formula sounds familiar to you it's because a genius named John Hughes perfected it. However you shouldn't allow that to stop you from seeing Booksmart, which does not come across as a hollow attempt to achieve the same Hughesian success. It pays homage to a legend in film making by taking his formula and adding everything you'd expect a 21st century director to add. The result is something every age group will enjoy.
Cody: This really was an expertly done modern take on the classic teen coming of age genre. Any concern I had about having, "seen this movie a thousand times" was quickly erased by the sharp screenplay, and the excellent chemistry of the two leads, which shined through almost immediately. The heartfelt moments sprinkled throughout all landed well because Kaitlyn Dever (Amy) and Beanie Feldstein (Molly) were excellent together. And then there was the comedic side of things. I have not laughed that often or that hard at a movie in quite some time. At certain times you could see a joke coming, and yet it still somehow left me in stitches. The plot and general arc of the film may feel familiar, but man do the cinematography and soundtrack make the ride worth it. I am traditionally far more impressed by moving original scores than I am the creation of a playlist of existing music. Booksmart was a rare exception to that rule. Nearly every song seemed the one true perfect choice for the moment for which it was the backdrop. Extra bonus points for finding a way to incorporate LCD Soundsystem. I'll be hitting play on this soundtrack on Spotify on many a weekend night this summer.
Roy: Besides Wilde's skill as a director, I was most impressed with the individual performances of this film. Everyone brought their A game. I'm sure that Jason Sudeikis got his role as the principal/Lyft driver because he's married to the director, but can you recall a time when Sudeikis has ever disappointed you? Because I cannot. Kaitlyn Dever brings so much to this movie, and I would like to note that I knew this kid was destined for great things when she played the role of Loretta McCready in Justified. At the age of 15, Dever was stealing scenes from Timothy Olyphant and Margo Martindale and making it look easy. And if we are talking about scene theft in Booksmart then look no further than Billie Lourd. She plays the mystical Gigi perfectly. Lourd would appear on screen, hit her joke, and then disappear in a bit that never got old. Lastly, please do not overlook Skyler Gisondo. The best thing about Santa Clarita Diet getting canceled is that hopefully we get to see more of him on the big screen. His character Jared tried so incredibly hard to impress everyone at this school and failed miserably. What his surfeit of money could not do was finally achieved when he took the time to be honest and have a real conversation.
Cody: When you can make a strong impression while sharing the screen with esteemed character actress Margot Martindale, you know you've got a future in the acting business. I did find it really funny that Sudeikis made his way into this. Was he doing a favor for Wilde or was she doing a favor for him? Hard to say. I'm sure the answer is that they just enjoy being around each other, but I like to envision Sudeikis begging his wife to let him play a role in her movie. This movie got a lot right, and it got some wrong (which we'll get into shortly). It's not perfect, but that's obviously an unrealistic bar. One of the core messages is something of which we humans should regularly be reminded. People aren't just what they appear to be from an outside perspective. We're all a little more alike than it seems. You can likely empathize with that [nerd/stoner/jock/superficial girl/rich boy] if you just look a little deeper, and while you're digging deep, it wouldn't hurt to cut yourself a little slack too.
This is the point where we speak of spoilers. You are officially on your own.
Roy: Full disclosure: I was a Lyft/Uber driver for about a year and a half. So the scene where these two young ladies shared way too much personal information with a strange pizza delivery guy hit close to home, and was an excellent reminder of an obvious lesson. We need to do a lot less blind trusting of strangers. If any of you knew the amount of rides I gave home to minors who spent most of the drive telling me no one was home.... Let's just say as a father I did a lot of internally screaming for those 18 months. But I digress. Not only did the pizza guy scold our gal pals for their poor choice, explaining that he could be a sick murderer, when we found out he was just that later in the film it really paid off. But seriously, don't bring a stranger to your home and say that no one is there!
Cody: I'm glad you brought up the pizza scene. It was one of the few times where the writing took me out of the moment. These incredibly smart and responsible girls have decided earlier this same day to party for the first time in their lives. It's a big leap from there to using their hair as masks in a sad attempt to "rob" an address out of a pizza delivery guy. Maybe the point is that despite all their smarts, they're still just teenagers. Regardless, it came across as forced, as did the teacher (conveniently named Miss Fine) deciding on a whim to risk her career to have a fling with a student, even if he was a 20 year old student. Because of moments like these, Booksmart is a movie balancing itself between the realistic and emotional and the fantastical and absurd. Perhaps there is always going to be some element of that balancing act in a teenage comedy (Superbad's police officers spring to mind). The difference here is that Booksmart was doing so well with its realistic character moments, both dramatic and comedic (one eyed panda, anyone?), that the over the top stuff was superfluous.
Roy: As a teacher, watching the behavior of the students during the last day of school hurt my soul. Understanding first hand how chaotic things can get is one thing, watching a movie where the behavior is completely unrealistic is another. Having said that, I understand the point of those scenes were to show that it was the last day of school and that no one cared. Yes, that is a real occurrence. But I kept seeing the behavior and thought, "Where on earth are all the teachers and how are they allowing this? They must all be terrible at their jobs." It was over the top. Thank you for bringing up Ms. Fine... Her hooking up with a dumb graduate made no sense. They establish early in the film that she is smart and cool, and then completely abandon her character development for an ending they wanted to force... I haven't seen writing like that since Game of Thrones season 8.
Cody: Obviously there were some pieces of this movie with which to quibble, but I want to pay respects to one of the scenes that was great from start to finish. And that scene is simply everything that happened to Amy and Molly in the climactic party sequence. Subverting expectations has become a running joke, but this was a masterclass in how to do so correctly. Separating the two characters to let them appear to be finally living out their fantasies involving their crushes was such an excellent build up. Everything crescendos with stellar camerawork following Amy through the pool, full of hope and expectation, before the ultimate deflation of seeing her crush (who I swear was Miley Cyrus pretending to be a different actress) canoodling with none other than Molly's crush. In a teen comedy, which is as saturated as any genre in 2019, risks have to be taken to bring something unique to audiences. Booksmart took a lot of risks, and should be lauded for having the vast majority pay off. Only time will tell if this makes it into the zeitgeist of coming of age stories, but it wouldn't surprise either of these writers.
Cody: This really was an expertly done modern take on the classic teen coming of age genre. Any concern I had about having, "seen this movie a thousand times" was quickly erased by the sharp screenplay, and the excellent chemistry of the two leads, which shined through almost immediately. The heartfelt moments sprinkled throughout all landed well because Kaitlyn Dever (Amy) and Beanie Feldstein (Molly) were excellent together. And then there was the comedic side of things. I have not laughed that often or that hard at a movie in quite some time. At certain times you could see a joke coming, and yet it still somehow left me in stitches. The plot and general arc of the film may feel familiar, but man do the cinematography and soundtrack make the ride worth it. I am traditionally far more impressed by moving original scores than I am the creation of a playlist of existing music. Booksmart was a rare exception to that rule. Nearly every song seemed the one true perfect choice for the moment for which it was the backdrop. Extra bonus points for finding a way to incorporate LCD Soundsystem. I'll be hitting play on this soundtrack on Spotify on many a weekend night this summer.
 |
| Don't steal her weed, or cross her in any way. |
Cody: When you can make a strong impression while sharing the screen with esteemed character actress Margot Martindale, you know you've got a future in the acting business. I did find it really funny that Sudeikis made his way into this. Was he doing a favor for Wilde or was she doing a favor for him? Hard to say. I'm sure the answer is that they just enjoy being around each other, but I like to envision Sudeikis begging his wife to let him play a role in her movie. This movie got a lot right, and it got some wrong (which we'll get into shortly). It's not perfect, but that's obviously an unrealistic bar. One of the core messages is something of which we humans should regularly be reminded. People aren't just what they appear to be from an outside perspective. We're all a little more alike than it seems. You can likely empathize with that [nerd/stoner/jock/superficial girl/rich boy] if you just look a little deeper, and while you're digging deep, it wouldn't hurt to cut yourself a little slack too.
This is the point where we speak of spoilers. You are officially on your own.
Roy: Full disclosure: I was a Lyft/Uber driver for about a year and a half. So the scene where these two young ladies shared way too much personal information with a strange pizza delivery guy hit close to home, and was an excellent reminder of an obvious lesson. We need to do a lot less blind trusting of strangers. If any of you knew the amount of rides I gave home to minors who spent most of the drive telling me no one was home.... Let's just say as a father I did a lot of internally screaming for those 18 months. But I digress. Not only did the pizza guy scold our gal pals for their poor choice, explaining that he could be a sick murderer, when we found out he was just that later in the film it really paid off. But seriously, don't bring a stranger to your home and say that no one is there!
Cody: I'm glad you brought up the pizza scene. It was one of the few times where the writing took me out of the moment. These incredibly smart and responsible girls have decided earlier this same day to party for the first time in their lives. It's a big leap from there to using their hair as masks in a sad attempt to "rob" an address out of a pizza delivery guy. Maybe the point is that despite all their smarts, they're still just teenagers. Regardless, it came across as forced, as did the teacher (conveniently named Miss Fine) deciding on a whim to risk her career to have a fling with a student, even if he was a 20 year old student. Because of moments like these, Booksmart is a movie balancing itself between the realistic and emotional and the fantastical and absurd. Perhaps there is always going to be some element of that balancing act in a teenage comedy (Superbad's police officers spring to mind). The difference here is that Booksmart was doing so well with its realistic character moments, both dramatic and comedic (one eyed panda, anyone?), that the over the top stuff was superfluous.
Roy: As a teacher, watching the behavior of the students during the last day of school hurt my soul. Understanding first hand how chaotic things can get is one thing, watching a movie where the behavior is completely unrealistic is another. Having said that, I understand the point of those scenes were to show that it was the last day of school and that no one cared. Yes, that is a real occurrence. But I kept seeing the behavior and thought, "Where on earth are all the teachers and how are they allowing this? They must all be terrible at their jobs." It was over the top. Thank you for bringing up Ms. Fine... Her hooking up with a dumb graduate made no sense. They establish early in the film that she is smart and cool, and then completely abandon her character development for an ending they wanted to force... I haven't seen writing like that since Game of Thrones season 8.
 |
| Are we absolutely certain that's not Miley Cyrus? |
Cody: Obviously there were some pieces of this movie with which to quibble, but I want to pay respects to one of the scenes that was great from start to finish. And that scene is simply everything that happened to Amy and Molly in the climactic party sequence. Subverting expectations has become a running joke, but this was a masterclass in how to do so correctly. Separating the two characters to let them appear to be finally living out their fantasies involving their crushes was such an excellent build up. Everything crescendos with stellar camerawork following Amy through the pool, full of hope and expectation, before the ultimate deflation of seeing her crush (who I swear was Miley Cyrus pretending to be a different actress) canoodling with none other than Molly's crush. In a teen comedy, which is as saturated as any genre in 2019, risks have to be taken to bring something unique to audiences. Booksmart took a lot of risks, and should be lauded for having the vast majority pay off. Only time will tell if this makes it into the zeitgeist of coming of age stories, but it wouldn't surprise either of these writers.
No comments:
Post a Comment