'Booksmart' Trailer: Olivia Wilde's Directorial Debut Looks Hilarious

What happens when you spend four years of high school studying hard to make sure you get into a great college, only for your senior year to come to an end with the realization that everyone who spent all of high school partying also got into great colleges?

That's the set-up of Booksmart, a new raunchy comedy which stars Kaitlyn Dever (Justified) and Beanie Feldstein (Lady Bird). It marks the directorial debut of actress Olivia Wilde, and from all of the positive buzz this is getting from its premiere at this year's South By Southwest, it seems like we might have a new classic on our hands. Check out the red-band trailer below.

Watching this trailer, the first movie that comes to mind as a comparison point is Superbad, the 2007 comedy that launched Michael Cera and Jonah Hill to stardom. But according to /Film managing editor Jacob Hall, that comparison doesn't do Booksmart justice. We'll have a full review coming soon, but in the meantime, Jacob sent me an excerpt from one of his upcoming SXSW capsule articles that has me incredibly excited to see this movie:

I was not expecting for the credits to roll on Booksmart with me thinking "Wow, did Olivia Wilde just make her directorial debut with one of the funniest and sweetest and most brutally honest high school coming-of-age movies I have ever seen?" But yes, that's exactly what I thinking, because this movie is an instant revelation. As far as comedic snapshots of young life in the '10s go, it ranks up there with the massively underrated The Edge of Seventeen. As far as raunchy tales of tested friendships go, it feels like a redefinition of the genre. As tempting as it is to call this "Superbad with women," that's unfair. Mainly because Booksmart is so much better.

A quick glance through Twitter shows that Jacob wasn't the only one who was bowled over by this film:

Holy smokes, Olivia Wilde's #Booksmart is stupendous. If you were an extremely uncool girl in high school, this will hit you right in the heart. I howled with laughter – screamed really tbh – and leaked tears throughout. #SXSW 💙💙💙💙💙

— Angie J. Han (@ajhan) March 11, 2019

I loved every inch of #Booksmart. A killer brew of high school party comedy crammed with true true true female friendship feelings. There are visually stunning scenes where @oliviawilde is just straight up flexing her impressive first-time director muscles. #SXSW

— Joanna Robinson (@jowrotethis) March 11, 2019

BOOKSMART: I laughed and I laughed and I cried and all I want to do is watch it all over again. @oliviawilde directed a teen movie epic for every girl who did her homework in HS. Feeling so seen! #sxsw

— Jada Yuan (@jadabird) March 11, 2019

BOOKSMART: Holy cow, did Olivia Wilde just direct the funniest and sweetest high school comedy I've seen in a long time? Bowled over by this reeeally fucking funny and reeeally fucking honest movie.

— Jacob Hall (@JacobSHall) March 11, 2019

I kind of hated the midnight movie I just saw, so I'll just tweet again about how good BOOKSMART is. I have a gut feeling it could be a huge hit and one of those "this is a definitive portrait of high school life in 2019" movies.

— Jacob Hall (@JacobSHall) March 11, 2019

Kaitlyn Dever has been killin' it since the days of The Spectacular Now and Short Term 12, and Beanie Feldstein has already proven that she's right at home in high school comedies with her breakout performance in Lady Bird a couple years ago, and I can't wait to see them take the leads in this one.

Here's the official description:

Told from a wildly original, fresh and modern perspective, Booksmart is an unfiltered comedy about high school best friends and the bonds we create that last a lifetime. Capturing the spirit of our times, the film is a coming of age story for a new generation.

Booksmart arrives in theaters on May 24, 2019.