People keep on saying that Olivia Wilde’s ‘Booksmart’ is like the female version of ‘Superbad’ but what if you never saw that movie? You can probably compare ‘Booksmart’ to a lot of movies – coming of age movies, friendship movies, buddy movies – but something about this film feels instantly fresh.

This is a story of two friends, Molly and Amy (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever)  who spent their high school years focusing on their academics. Now that they are graduating, they are finding maybe it’s not all worth it – some students int heir class partied and still got into good schools. So they want to compensate on this one last evening and party. But of course, there are roadblocks, and that’s where the fun begins – for them and for us, the audience.

Feldstein is tops. I know her, of course, for playing Minnie Fay in the Bette Midler revival of ‘Hello Dolly’ on Broadway but she stole hearts and scenes of course in ‘Ladybird.’  There is a scene towards the end of this film where she comes into some kind of realization, and she handles it so effectively – touching and honest. Dever matches her effectively, and I like the fact that her sexual orientation here is treated as ordinarily as any other detail in the movie.  They’re so good you can feel the depth of their friendship, making you feel s if you are their friends. You are on their side from the start.  My new prediction is that this film will catapult these two actresses to major star status.

And who knew Olivia Wilde had such great directorial skills? Even though four writers are credit with the screenplay, it feels cohesive. It took a while for me to ‘get’ the tone of the film, but once I did, I was in for the ride. The audience I was with devoured this film with great delight. I am betting this will be this summer’s surprise hit.