The 80's had The Breakfast Club, Stand By Me, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty In Pink and Sixteen Candles. The 90's had Dazed And Confused, Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You. Even the 2000's had success with Mean Girls, Almost Famous, Juno, Napoleon Dynamite and Superbad.
As for this decade, we have seen Boyhood, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The Edge Of Seventeen, The Way Way Back and a few others.
The more I hear of a new one being released, the more I feel I'm going to lose touch with this sub-genre as I now enter my 30's. However, I still remained hopeful that create further classics that I can still relate to.
To say I was blown out of the water would be an understatement. Like with any story, all you need is strongly developed characters and you can get invested in anything and this has to be another sure-fire classic for the coming-of-age genre.
The laughs were pretty constant from start to finish, I noticed they were introducing plenty of characters that all had their own little characteristics that were well developed and while all of that was happening, there were these two fantastic leading actors that carried the main plot through so well.
So big props to Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, who not only fully expressed their talent, they also showed experience beyond their years. You could see great maturity in their performances, particularly from Dever.
Their chemistry felt believable, authentic, very engaging and relatable for me to remember my own school days.
As mentioned before, the supporting cast all did a great job and made the most of their screen-time to make them as memorable as their respective leads. So I give big praise to Billie Lourd, Diane Silvers, Skyler Gisondo, Noah Galvin, Austin Crute, Victoria Ruesga and even more the well known actors Jason Sudeikis and Lisa Kudrow.
A film that has made so many of their characters instantly engaging with enough of a backstory or development throughout the film to invest with can never make this a boring experience.
Outside of the acting, the sharp writing was particularly enjoyable. The gags were not only very funny, but expertly executed and the pacing of the script was spot on. It was frenetic when it needed to be and slowed things down when it needed to cover the more heartfelt portions of the films message and themes.
You can also thank the editing team in relation to the pacing. When a film moves a long at the right pace, you can feel every other aspect fall into place and become a complete film.
I was certainly not expecting to like this as much as I did. The performances were very strong from the mainly young cast and it gives you many memorable characters. The story may play out like any coming-of-age film. But it's the strength the acting, writing and even editing that makes this a stand-out and be a welcomed addition to the other classics.
You can somewhat agree that this is a female version of Superbad. But I feel unlike said film, Booksmart I felt had more heart and emotion to it, especially in the final act which could well be one of the satisfying endings of the year.
This is super enjoyable and you instantly want to see it again. Don't be surprised if this ends up in my top 10 of the year list.
Rating: 8/10
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