Film

Booksmart

Name: Booksmart
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2019
Cast: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow

A one-night odyssey of two overachieving best friends who realize, the night before graduation, that they've spent four years being responsible instead of reckless. It's fast, filthy-mouthed, and unexpectedly tender — a teen comedy that loves its characters as much as it mocks them. Great for anyone who wants raunch with an actual heart underneath.

TMDb rating

7.0

If you liked this

Superbad2007

The obvious ancestor: two inseparable guys try to cram a lifetime of experience into one chaotic pre-graduation night, fuelled by fake IDs and panic. Same structure, same warmth under the crudeness.

But It's cruder and more male-gaze-y than Booksmart, with less interest in its female characters as people.

Lady Bird2017

Greta Gerwig's senior-year story trades the one-crazy-night structure for a whole final year, but it's got the same specific, loving eye for teenage self-invention and mother-daughter-shaped friendship dynamics.

But Quieter and more melancholic — there's no big set-piece night out, just accumulating small humiliations and grace.

Blockers2018

Flips the premise — parents chasing their daughters on prom night instead of the girls chasing fun themselves — but shares the raunchy-comedy-with-real-feeling engine and a similarly big heart for its young women.

But The parent-panic framing means less time inside the girls' own heads than Booksmart gives you.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

American Graffiti1973

Same bones exactly — a sprawling one-night structure where the real subject is the fear of growing apart, just filtered through muscle cars instead of Lyft rides.

George Lucas's cruising-and-diners portrait of one last night before adulthood swallows a group of California teens whole. It practically invented the 'one night, everything changes' teen movie decades before Booksmart's generation existed.

But Slow by modern standards, gentle where Booksmart is loud, and its idea of teenage rebellion is almost quaint now.

Easy A2010

Emma Stone at her sharpest, playing a smart girl whose reputation spirals after one white lie. Same quick, quotable dialogue and affection for outsider-smart teenagers navigating a dumb social order.

But More plot-driven and less interested in friendship than in one girl's solo reinvention.

The Edge of Seventeen2016

Hailee Steinfeld is prickly, funny and painfully real as a girl who can't stop sabotaging her own friendships. Less of a party movie, more a study of how teenage cruelty and love get tangled up.

But Slower and sadder — it lingers in discomfort rather than resolving it with a big cathartic set piece.

Mean Girls2004

The gold standard for quotable high-school satire, and proof that smart writing about teenage girls' inner lives can be both hilarious and genuinely insightful about social hierarchy.

But Broader and more cartoonish in its comedy — less grounded in the messy specificity Booksmart goes for.

Eighth Grade2018

Bo Burnham's queasily accurate portrait of a shy girl surviving her last week of middle school. Where Booksmart is a victory lap, this is the anxious dress rehearsal — just as funny, much more cringe.

But It's genuinely uncomfortable in places; the humour comes from real social dread, not big comic set pieces.

Dazed and Confused1993

Richard Linklater's hangout classic follows a huge ensemble through one last-day-of-school night of parties and near-misses. The template for the 'one night, everything changes' teen movie.

But Looser and more meandering — there's no central friendship driving it, just vibes and a great soundtrack.

10 Things I Hate About You1999

A '90s teen-comedy classic with a fierce, funny heroine who refuses to play nice, plus the kind of banter and heart Booksmart clearly grew up on.

But It's a straighter rom-com — less interested in female friendship as the emotional core, more in the romance.

PEN152019

Same fierce, unbreakable best-friendship at the centre, just stripped of the cool-girl swagger — this is the awkward, unfiltered version of Amy and Molly, years earlier.

Two adult women play their own thirteen-year-old selves navigating middle-school humiliation with total, cringing commitment. It's Booksmart's friendship at its rawest — before either girl learned to perform confidence.

But The 'adults playing kids' conceit is deliberately uncanny, and the second-hand embarrassment is relentless, almost unwatchable at times.

Girlhood2014no page yet

Same question underneath the fun — what female friendship gives you that the wider world won't — asked in a completely different register, without a single joke to soften it.

A French film about a teenage girl who finds belonging in a fierce, loyal all-girl crew on the outskirts of Paris. The joy, loyalty and performance of femininity in that friendship group hits eerily similar notes.

But Far grittier and more socially serious — poverty and violence are real stakes here, not comic obstacles.