“Booksmart”

On the eve of their high school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends Amy & Molly realize that they never had any fun in high school and played it safe to get into the schools they want, while all the party goers did virtually nothing and got into the same schools. They try and make up for it in one night by going to the senior party of the year. This isn’t new material, but it works because of the likability of the two leads played by Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. They’re both great and Dever is going to be a star, if she isn’t already. The girls are a little social awkward in their own ways, but they have each others backs and their basic morals are intact even as they seek out the big party and know that it will be filled with drugs & stupid. Director Olivia Wilde does a nice job of balancing from teen romp to teen angst, esp. at the party when both girls realize that maybe things aren’t going the way they anticipated. The movie is very funny , sweet & poignant. This is a good companion piece to “Superbad” or a film like “Can’t hardly Wait” or “American Pie”. It’s pretty raunchy, but sweet & well written and when needed it goes back to the core of the film, which is the friendship of the 2 girls. LisaKudrow, Will Forte & Jason Sudekis also star.

Rating: (***1/2)