Over the weekend, director Olivia Wilde took to Twitter to ask her followers to go see her new movie, because... well... it wasn't doing super great at the box office:
https://twitter.com/oliviawilde/status/1132398541811273730
As of Friday, its opening day, Booksmart was sitting at No.6 in the US box office, with an estimated opening weekend of around $7 million.
Comparitively, Superbad - the movie it is most often compared to - opened 12 years a go to $33 million.
And yet, Booksmart is so much funnier, smarter, and more emotionally relevant to today, that the comparison really doesn't stand.
And if you think for a second that, well, of course Wilde would take to Twitter to defend her movie, well, she isn't alone:
https://twitter.com/VancityReynolds/status/1132611552375443457
https://twitter.com/rejectedjokes/status/1132304923205427201
https://twitter.com/mindykaling/status/1129089914933469184
https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1132456534015762432
Telling the story of two academic overachievers, BFFs Amy (Kaitlyn Denver) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) discover that all the social sacrificing they'd made over the years after they discover that all of the jocks and party animals in their high school have also made it into prestigious colleges.
In an attempt to make up for lost time, they decide to head to their school's final party, with plans to hook up with their respective crushes. The fact that Amy's crush is another girl is played out so effortlessly, without any kind of big deal or celebration to be made, automatically makes it the most woke movie you'll see all year.
And so off they go, taking on the teen sub-genre of One Crazy Night, and along the way cross paths with some brilliantly written supporting characters (special shout out to the movie's MVP Gigi, played by Billie Lourd), and encounter everything from a lavish murder mystery party, to drugged yacht food, taxi porn, and even more bonkers stuff we don't want to reveal here.
It is so consistently funny, that the subtlety of the many layers in Amy and Molly's friendship may not become immediately clear, but their every interaction - from that first mini-dance off, to the endless tsunami of compliments - is played out by these actresses so well, that it is tough to imagine a world where they aren't actual best friends.
Plus, Wilde has secretly dropped the best soundtrack of the year on us too. Just saying.
Booksmart is in Irish cinemas right now.
Clip via Annapurna Pictures
