The Shelf: Booksmart
As their senior year is coming to a close, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) regret that they spent so much time working and not enough time having fun. They decide to cram four years of fun into one memorable night.
The one common thread for all the movies on The Shelf is that I remember walking out of the theater* and thinking, "Wow. That was something special."
*This does not apply to the recent addition of "Trick r' Treat" and "Prey." These were released on DVD/Blu-Ray and Hulu, respectively.
The impetus for their epic night is Molly discovering that all the other students who spent their weekends partying will attend top-tier schools. Molly sees this night as a chance to change their story. As with many movies, this night is full of revelations.
Molly and Amy have gone through high school under the assumption that they were the only ones who cared about school. They would hear rumors about other students and take them as fact. In essence, they, Molly in particular, saw themselves as better than everyone else. This night dispels those ideas. In most comedies, Molly and Amy's assumptions would have been proved right and be vindicated.
There are so many great performances in this movie. Both leads are incredible, and much of the supporting cast does great things with their limited screen time. There is one performance that I love more and more every time I rewatch this: Bille Lourd as Gigi. She is the very epitome of a scene stealer. Gigi becomes this mythical creature in this movie. Molly and Amy attend three parties throughout the night, and Gigi is at each one. Gigi is a free spirit and fiercely loyal to those she considers friends. Lourd completely commits to the role and, in doing so, makes Gigi one of the most memorable characters in cinema history.
"Booksmart" came out of nowhere and was a massive box office hit. I saw it twice in the theater-it was one of the last movies I saw before lockdown in 2019. Not many R-rated comedies were being made at the time (I think we are in a renaissance now), so it stuck out. If I gave movies a 10 out of 10, this would be one of them.
