Booksmart (2019)

[Small Man Big Horse]

A cute "One Crazy Night" type teen comedy about two girls who studied hard throughout school and then decide they missed out on the partying side of things and choose to catch up the night before graduation. It's a sweet affair with strong performances and it contains some great dialogue, it mostly avoids the gross out comedy that the genre is famous for and has some genuinely funny moments, though it also has that predictable moment where the two have a big argument and fall out for a bit before making up which looses it a couple of points. 7.4/10

[notjosh]

Just got back from the cinema and would pretty much concur with your rating. Beanie Feldstein was great. I found the direction a little overcooked at times, but there were also a few moments towards the end where it really worked.

Also watched Blockers this week, which is also pretty sweet and occasionally funny, though there's a lot more gross-out and it mostly feels a bit gratuitous.

I'm starting to feel like I've had my fill of American high school films though. Are the real things actually anything like this? I don't think I've seen one where at least one person doesn't have parents with a massive house and pool yet no qualms about leaving it to 200 teenagers to get pissed and finger each other. Pretty sure that can't be the picture across all of the country.

[Head Gardener]

Saw this last night and loved it, better than Godzilla but not as good as John Wick 3

[PlanktonSideburns]

Just got back from the cinema and would pretty much concur with your rating. Beanie Feldstein was great. I found the direction a little overcooked at times, but there were also a few moments towards the end where it really worked.

Also watched Blockers this week, which is also pretty sweet and occasionally funny, though there's a lot more gross-out and it mostly feels a bit gratuitous.

I'm starting to feel like I've had my fill of American high school films though. Are the real things actually anything like this? I don't think I've seen one where at least one person doesn't have parents with a massive house and pool yet no qualms about leaving it to 200 teenagers to get pissed and finger each other. Pretty sure that can't be the picture across all of the country.

eighth grade is a film that could fit in the category of films that avoid that trope of these sort of films

[C_Larence]

This is probably the most I've ever been disappointed by a movie. I was looking forward to it ever since I saw the trailer, but I genuinely hated this. Yes, both the leads are good, but everything they have to work with brings them down. Two scenes begin with them laughing at something that happened in the previous scene, which I feel was an attempt to trick the audience into thinking something funny had happened, but I can assure you it hadn't. Also the soundtrack is appalling. When the "rich character" first appeared, unironically, to this song (specifically the part timestamped) I knew I was in for a rough ride:
https://youtu.be/JAM_ONZgPnE?t=62

It's annoying because I say all this as someone who was upset by the only bad review I read before I saw the movie (the one that brought it down to 99% on rotten tomatoes), but maybe I just expected too much. Ladybird is one of my favourite movies, so it's not like I'm averse to this kind of story, it just didn't have anywhere near the charm I expected. I give it 2/10 because I almost laughed at the karaoke scene.

[madhair60]

Not watching anything called "Booksmart".

[Puce Moment]

I rarely watch comedy films but I have hosted a comedy film loving friend for the past few days who recommended this. I had seen it polled well in the Sight & Sound 2019 list so gave it a go.

Loved it huge amounts. It felt like a John Hughes film without any of the things that can make those films hard to watch. The relationship between the two leads was extremely believable and contained the kind of subtleties usually reserved for bromance/buddy movies.

And it was hilarious - from the opening break dancing and compliments - to the final line about pancakes - I laughed all the way through.

[SteveDave]

Chalk me up as another person who fucking loves this.