Gleaming the Cube (1989)

From start to finish, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart (2019) is a wild (wordplay unintended) ride. Wilde’s coming-of-age comedy directorial debut is simultaneously hilarious and entertaining, and remarkably heartfelt and relatable. The movie is really just a joy to experience, and as I watched it for the second time this past weekend, I found myself smiling throughout it.

The film’s plot is quite simple; the majority of it takes place over a single night. School-focused best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) come to a striking realization on the final day of their senior year: they are not the only people in their school who have managed to get into good colleges, but they are the only students who have spent all of high school focused solely on school rather than having fun. They decide that they can’t allow themselves to have gone through all of high school without partying, and they set out to spend the night celebrating with their classmates. This leads to fun, some trouble, and ultimately, new conclusions about themselves and the people around them.