LogFAQs > #958820620

...and frankly, I think it's better. Shit, one of the main characters is Jonah Hill's irl sister.

Like I remember watching Superbad as a kid and just not getting it. Like haha, they're getting alcohol and Michael Cera dropped the vodka he wanted to give to a girl he wanted to fuck because a bum assaulted him. The McLovin subplot was the most watchable part of that movie, watching Jonah Hill acting like a live-action Cartman was annoying. I was also too young to understand the conflict between Seth and Evan - I've been thinking of revisiting the movie because I think that plot point will resonate with me super hard nowadays.

But Booksmart kind of eliminated the need to do that, because I like it much more than Superbad. It's about a pair of best friends who spent all of high school studying to get into Ivy League schools, only to learn that all of the slacker students got into Harvard and shit too while they were goofing off. The really unpleasant main character decides that they have to go to the big high school party at least once, which sets off this chain reaction of yadda yadda yadda it's Superbad. But it's a good Superbad.

It got review bombed because it was Feminist Superbad, but I really liked it - but then again I'm a massive liberal douchebag, so that might just reinforce a desire to never see Booksmart. I just found it to be a lot more charming out of the gate, and while I wasn't big on the part of the movie where they're trying to get to the Big High School Party and keep going to the wrong ones, the glue of the movie - the two main characters and their relationship - really held everything together.

Zoomers got the best version of Superbad. Maybe this bodes well for the future of the human race.

There's a scene where the two main characters are watching porn in the back of an Uber with a pair of earbuds - I won't spoil the joke, but I laughed like a motherfucker at the punchline. There was also a pretty good part where someone pulls a gun on them. But moreso than any big laughs, the movie just has a very endearing vibe to it.

The characters are best friends, and they fucking feel like it - the first thing that happens in the movie is that they dance at each other while giving each other compliments. They spend ages building each other up and like talking about their feelings and stuff, it really nails the surreal humor and earnestness that zoomers have.

One of the characters is a raging lesbian, and she's interested in this dumb skater jock named Ryan who's like gender non-conforming. And Ryan is just fucking STUPID, it's amazing. They got way too little screentime.

The worst thing I could say is that the other main character who isn't a raging lesbian is just kind of a stuck-up unpleasant person. But it's intentional and the movie comments on it - it's less "Jonah Hill playing a live-action Cartman" and more "holier than thou nerd slowly understanding the harm she's done to herself and everyone around her". And if the words "feminist Superbad" make you froth at the mouth and see red and black out for a couple seconds out of sheer rage, you probably won't like this movie.

But shit man, as far as high school party movies go, Booksmart is legitimately really good. If you liked Blockers, the movie where John Cena butt-chugs a beer, then I think you'll love Booksmart. And both movies are better than Superbad.

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I'm gonna burn it all down today, and sweep all the ashes away
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