Empire Australasia – July 2019

just putting their coats on. Boys of the

touchstone Superbad and American

Pie era are remembered mainly for

their salacious minds, but it’s so satisfying

to see the Booksmart girls listen to their

sexual desires without being governed by

them; Molly isn’t shamed for having a

crush on a boy she’s always spoken down

to, and the fact that Amy likes girls

launches her story, but doesn’t limit it.

Theirs is the best kind of friendship,

because it unquestionably offers full

support without sacrificing any laughs

either. Molly and Amy have a code word

for a “drop everything, I need you”

moment — and Booksmart gives the very

same gift to an audience that’s been

force-fed performative Girl Power for so

long. After all this effort, we’re finally

invited to enjoy the party too. ELLA KEMP

VERDICT No ceremonious life lessons

here — Booksmart lives in a euphoric

moment of unapologetic youth that

knows what it deserves. Cherish

it, revisit the time capsule of our

boisterously ambitious era endlessly.

With such unfiltered charisma,

Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever are

firmly on their way to superstardom.

Affective vulnerability defines their

characters without a trace of weakness

— this involving teenage experience is

full of curiosity, lust, insecurity, jealousy

and loyalty, without the predictive

stylings typically employed for female

characters. Instead of being reduced

to giggling, blushing clichés pretending to

be human beings, Molly and Amy take

their friendship as seriously as their

grades: compliments are ferociously

fired back and forth, with the strictness

of the most critical study session, and

they only stop dancing when they run

out of breath. Their personalities

glow but their faces stay straight. The

modern young woman has sardonic

humour running through her veins, self-

assurance seeping out of her pores.

Lisa Kudrow, as Amy’s painstakingly

progressive mother, is right: these girls are

“smart, fabulous... and also brave”,

perpetually living their best and most

intelligent lives, even when they’re

Did you connect straight away to

Booksmart’s story?

“Oh, in a lot of ways. I immediately thought, ‘I’m an

Amy.’ She’s sort of afraid to break the rules, but

stands up for what she believes in, which is something

I always try to do. Also her deep love for her best

friend is something I gravitated towards, because you

don’t see that a lot in film. It’s just

a ride-or-die best-friend female relationship, which

we’re seeing more and more in projects today,

because people are craving it.”

The film is about a very wild night. Is there

a night in your life that compares?

“I mean, I feel like my most wild night has been with

my parents. The most fun and crazy nights are when I

share a bottle of wine with them and my sister and we

watch a movie and then end up watching three more

movies. I was never the wild kid in high school!”

You’ve been acting since you were 11. Did you

always know this is what you wanted to do?

“My parents told me that I’ve been staring at people

since I could walk. My mom told me, ‘We thought

about making you stop, but we knew you were doing it

for a reason.’ So I guess I’ve always wanted to be a

shapeshifter. I don’t know any other way.”

Your big breakthrough performance was as Jayden

in Short Term 12. That must have been

a heavy role for a 16-year-old.

“It was a pretty intense film to make. But Destin [Daniel

Cretton, director] created an environment that was very

family-orientated, sweet and loving. It was a big deal

for me to be in that type of movie. It’s funny, because

at the time I was going back and forth between Short

Term 12 and a family-centric live audience TV sitcom

[Last Man Standing]. But I love doing that.”

Your stand-out scene is the monologue about an

octopus and a shark. Was it daunting?

“I was scared, for sure. But the big scenes that feel

the most frightening usually end up being totally fine. It

was the same with Booksmart — the picnic-table

scene, which is the turning point of the movie, was the

first thing we shot. Beanie and I were stressing, but it

was super easy and light and fun. Whether it’s comedy

or drama, I treat it the same way. You could call

Booksmart a comedy, but there’s so much depth and

heart to it. Life is a mix.” NICK DE SEMLYEN

STAR PUPIL

Meet Booksmart’s grade-A

talent, Kaitlyn Dever

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