Over the weekend, Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, Booksmart, premiered at SXSW to rave reviews. (You can read our enthusiastic review as part of our ongoing SXSW 2019 coverage in the film section.) The comedy is already being hailed as an authentic, hysterical, and touching riff on the single-night teen movie in the vein of Superbad.
Best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) have made it to the end of high school and met every goal they set out to accomplish together. They’ve stayed friends, they’ve both graduated with straight As, and they’ve both made it into their dream colleges. However, like so many other overachievers, Molly and Amy never made time to actually experience life along the way, and now find themselves coming up against the beginning of adulthood without most of their major rebellious life experiences checked off the list. To fix this, they decide to go to a house party, which turns into a wild night of self-discovery for both.
Booksmart hits theaters on May 24th, just in time to sync up with actual graduating high schoolers, so don’t be surprised if Wilde might just have another Superbad on her hands as summer 2019 gets underway. In the meantime, check out the first red-band trailer:
