History Film / Booksmart

* RapunzelHair: Theo easily has the longest hair in the entire movie, even longer than most of the girls'.

* AdultFear: Discussed extensively by the pizza delivery guy when Amy and Molly try harassing him for information. Once he notices how young they are and that they're totally unarmed, he produces a gun he carries for protection and [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial goes into detail about what could happen to them]] before kicking them out. [[spoiler: Also somewhat downplayed in that he later turns out to be a genuine serial killer with a wanted poster at the police station, but the girls don't seem to be bothered by this fact at all]].

* Cloudcuckoolander: Gigi is in her own little world, rattling off bizarre comments, teleporting between each party the girls attend, taking naps in random places, and acting like Amy and Molly are her best friends even though they've never even spoken to each other until the film. It's possible that a lot of this is drug- and alcohol-induced (she does ask for rubbing alcohol at Nick's party because none of the drinks are strong enough) but you get the sense that this is her genuine personality as well.

* CloudCuckooLander: Gigi is in her own little world, rattling off bizarre comments, teleporting between each party the girls attend, taking naps in random places, and acting like Amy and Molly are her best friends even though they've never even spoken to each other until the film. It's possible that a lot of this is drug- and alcohol-induced (she does ask for rubbing alcohol at Nick's party because none of the drinks are strong enough) but you get the sense that this is her genuine personality as well.

* NoAntagonist: No one is actually trying to stop Amy and Molly from achieving their objectives, and basically everyone they encounter throughout the night is either neutral or openly friendly. Hope is the only person who is ever openly mean to them, and Amy ends up getting to know her better by the end. There is the trio who mock Molly behind her back, but the guys are still excited to see Molly and Amy at the party later and Molly reconciles with Annabelle/. In fact, the only "bad" person in the whole film is still (relatively, given the situation) nice to them, [[spoiler:the serial killer pizza man whose car they break into. He warns them not to put themselves in dangerous situations with strangers]].

'''Triple A:''' No, I just don't ''only'' care about school.

* InvisibleParents: Unlike with Amy's, we never see Molly's parents and they aren't mentioned, even in passing.

* YouMakeMeSic: Molly corrects the grammar of a bathroom wall message that says "your ugly".

** Theo has been held back twice in school and is finally graduating high school at the age of 20, but is such a good programmer that he's been immediately offered a job at Google.

** There's quite a long sequence of Amy swimming underwater in her underwear, alongside everyone else in the pool also in their underwear.
** There's a shot of Annabelle's ass when she points out her shorts don't have pockets.

* NoAntagonist: No one is actually trying to stop Amy and Molly from achieving their objectives, and basically everyone they encounter throughout the night is either neutral or openly friendly. Hope is the only person who is ever openly mean to them, and Amy ends up getting to know her better by the end. There is the trio who mock Molly behind her back, but the guys are still excited to see Molly and Amy at the party later and Molly reconciles with Annabelle/Triple A. In fact, the only "bad" person in the whole film is still (relatively, given the situation) nice to them, [[spoiler:the serial killer pizza man whose car they break into. He warns them not to put themselves in dangerous situation with strangers]].

* CanCrushingCranium: Nick and Theo do it after Molly snaps out of her ImagineSpot having a dance with Nick.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Molly identifies herself as a feminist, yet she also engages in casual SlutShaming as she also uses the nickname "Triple A" and is fairly dismissive about Gigi as well. Amy, however, immediately chastises Molly for using the nickname. CharacterDevelopment shows Molly growing out of this and she sincerely apologizes to Annabelle over her previous behavior.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Our introduction to Molly involves a mindfulness routine centered around a self-help tape that hearkens the viewer as being better than everyone else, ending on a venomous "Fuck them!" She constantly dismisses other classmates as underachievers, lazy assholes, and just plain stupid. The realization that people she'd written off as dolts with no future are getting into top-flight universities shakes her to her core, and triggers the events of the film. [[spoiler:At its climax, she brushes off Amy's "Malala" call as ''Amy'' being selfish and trying to be self-centered. Naturally, the resulting argument has Amy rip her a new one for this.]] In addition, her [[spoiler:pre-prepared and "first"]] speech at the end is an extremely self-important [=#MeToo=]-esque declaration against white men, while completely missing the spirit of the [=#MeToo=] movement.

* WildTeenParty: The duo spend most of the movie trying to attend one, which is being live-tweeted as they struggle to find it.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Our introduction to Molly involves a mindfulness routine centered around a self-help tape that hearkens the viewer as being better than everyone else, ending on a venomous '''"FUCK THEM."''' She constantly dismisses other classmates as underachievers, lazy assholes, and just plain stupid. The realization that people she'd written off as dolts with no future are getting into top-flight universities shakes her to her core, and triggers the events of the film. [[spoiler:At its climax, she brushes off Amy's "Malala" call as ''Amy'' being selfish and trying to be self-centered. Naturally, the resulting argument has Amy rip her a new one for this.]] In addition, her [[spoiler:pre-prepared and "first"]] speech at the end is an extremely self-important [=#MeToo=]-esque declaration against white men, while completely missing the spirit of the [=#MeToo=] movement.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''{{Film/Superbad}}''. Both movies involve two high school friends attending a party to get attention from their crushes, and the course of a single day. Molly, played by Beanie Feldstein, is the successor to Seth, played by Beanie's older brother, Creator/JonahHill. The meeker Amy is the successor to Evan. However, ''Booksmart'' fleshes out its side characters more and has generally been better received by critics, though also proved far less successful at the box office.

* NoAntagonist: No one is actually trying to stop Amy and Molly from achieving their objectives, and whenever they end up running into other people from their high school they're almost universally friendly. The only people who are even mean to them at any point are the trio mocking Molly behind her back in the beginning and Hope, but the two guys are still incredibly excited to see Molly and Amy at the party later, Molly reconciles with Annabelle/Triple A, and Amy even gets to know Hope a bit better by the end as well. In fact, the only "bad" person in the whole film is still (relatively, given the situation) nice to them, [[spoiler:the serial killer pizza man whose car they break into. He warns them not to put themselves in dangerous situation with strangers]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Subverted when Molly dresses down three [[BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults gossiping classmates]] by rubbing their noses in her future success, only to find out that their futures are all as bright as hers.
** Hope attempts to give one to Amy in the bathroom, but Amy fires back with a ShutUpHannibal.

--->'''Molly:''' But... you don't care about school.
--->'''Annabelle:''' No. We just don't ''only'' care about school.

* BadLiar: Amy is a self-confessed terrible liar - when Jared weirds them out while giving her and Molly a lift, she starts making up a ridiculous story about needing to leave because their friend hit a possum. She also asks Molly to lie to her parents for her when they're going out to party because she's never lied to them before.

* BlackComedyBurst: In a film free of violence and death, the girls' run-in with the pizza guy who begins getting [[BlackComedyRape really specific about what he could do to them]] (and his gun) stands out. The entire encounter is forgotten until the end of the move when [[spoiler:it's revealed he's actually a serial killer and]] the girls using this knowledge is PlayedForLaughs.
* {{Booksmart}}: Strangely enough given the title, being book smart is central to the two lead characters’ identities. The movie deconstructs the trope somewhat, however, especially in the opening scenes, which show that many other students at their school are also quite academically competent without it being their defining characteristic.

* CannotSpitItOut: Amy generally has a hard time being forthright about what she wants - she's pretty much incapable of telling her crush Ryan that she likes her, when she wants to leave the party she won't explain to Molly why (she saw [[spoiler: Nick and Ryan kissing]]), and she only tells Molly the truth about Botswana under extreme duress.

* CloudCuckooLander: Gigi is in her own little world, rattling off bizarre comments, teleporting between each party the girls attend, taking naps in random places, and acting like Amy and Molly are her best friends even though they've never even spoken to each other until the film. It's possible that a lot of this is drug and alcohol induced (she does ask for rubbing alcohol at Nick's party because none of the drinks are strong enough) but you get the sense that this is her genuine personality as well.

* ClusterFBomb: Not a huge surprise considering the majority of the characters are high school age, there's a good deal of swearing throughout. The final scene in particular, after Amy [[spoiler:ruins their dramatic goodbye by jumping in front of Mollys car]] the pair drop a dozen or so F-bombs in the closing few seconds.

* CringeComedy: There are at least a few moments in the move, such as Amy and Molly's teacher accidentally overhearing them listening to porn, or Amy's mother kissing her toy panda... that she regularly uses to masturbate.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Amy and Molly hide in the back of a pizza delivery man's car and try to force him to give them the address of the big party. The man admonishes them on how stupid it is for teen girls to get into a stranger's car to threaten them with no way to defend themselves and basically no plan, noting that they put more attention on using their hair as disguises than on the potential danger.

-->'''Principal Brown''': ...Was that Music/CardiB?

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:The Valley Strangler]] seems genuinely concerned at the girls' naivety about StrangerDanger, and considering who he is he makes a pretty good point. Of course [[spoiler:being a serial killer doesn't mean he has any interest in killing them specifically, particularly when he's supposed to be at work]].
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Subverted. While Amy [[spoiler:does hook up with Hope]], she actually can't fulfil the act out of nervousness and it ''is'' her (attempted) first time. Nobody else is shown having sex at the parties that the girls attend, with Ryan and [[spoiler:Nick]] only kissing.

* GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals: Amy has several of them in her bedroom... one of which she admits to humping.

** Amy and Molly's idea of having a good time is going to the library. They have fake [=IDs=] just so they can get into UCLA's 24 hour library.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Molly seems dismayed when she hallucinates gets a Barbie-doll body, asking, "Where's my chub?" and insisting to Amy that they are better than that, but later admits that "girls like her" (as in, ambitious girls with an alleged "butter-personality") don't get guys like [[spoiler: Nick]], showing that her "empowerment" and go-getter personality is still covering up some insecurities. She realizes this in herself by the end of the movie and mellows out towards both her peers and herself.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Our introduction to Molly involves a mindfulness routine centered around a self-help tape that hearkens the viewer as being better than everyone else, ending on a venomous '''"FUCK THEM."''' She constantly dismisses other classmates as underachievers, lazy assholes, and just plain stupid. The realization that people she'd written off as dolts with no future are getting into universities comparable to her Ivy League shakes her to her core, and triggers the events of the film. [[spoiler:At its climax, she brushes off Amy's "Malala" call as ''Amy'' being selfish and trying to be self-centered. Naturally, the resulting argument has Amy rip her a new one for this.]] In addition, her [[spoiler:pre-prepared and "first"]] speech at the end is an extremely self-important [=#MeToo=]-esque declaration against white men, while completely missing the spirit of the [=#MeToo=] movement.
* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Molly is going to Yale and Amy is going to Columbia, and when Molly asks her classmates about their post graduation plans, they involve (also) going to Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and a lucrative programming job at Google. Even CloudCuckooLander Gigi guiltily states she's going to her "fifth choice", Harvard. It's a plot point that Molly assumed everyone else were underachievers because they had active social lives. However, exaggerated in that it also seems very unlikely that ''that'' many students in one school would go to such extremely prestigious schools.

** Molly angrily points out that if it wasn't for her, Amy would sit around at home and never do anything on her own and calls her a coward. While it was harsh, she's not totally wrong either. Everything slightly bold that Amy does the entire movie is because Molly pushes her to do it.

* LastGirlWins: [[spoiler: Hope is the last girl Amy meets at school while pining for Ryan. And after losing out to Ryan, Amy eventually hooks up with Hope after an argument fuled kiss at a party]].

* LonelyRichKid: Jared is this to a T

* NoAntagonist: No one is actually trying to stop Amy and Molly from achieving their objectives, and whenever they end up running into other people from their high school they're almost universally friendly. The only people who are even mean to them at any point are the trio mocking Molly behind her back in the beginning and Hope, but the two guys are still incredibly excited to see Molly and Amy at the party later, Molly reconciles with Annabelle/Triple A, and Amy even gets to know Hope a bit better by the end as well. In fact, the only "bad" person in the whole film is still (relatively, given the situation) nice to them, [[spoiler:the serial killer pizza man who's car they break into. He warns them not to put themselves in dangerous situation with strangers]].

* RapunzelHair: Theo easily has the longest hair in the entire movie, even longer than most of the girl's.

* SlutShaming: Annabelle's nickname in school is "Triple A" (for the American Automotive Assistance "AAA" corporation) for offering roadside assistance to a number of guys but [[ReallyGetsAround obviously did more than that]]. She later reveals to Molly how much she hates that nickname, as she genuinely did help them, and having sex in a car is far more practical than doing it at home where "her Dad could walk in at any time". What hurt her most is she expected the guys to catch on to that nickname, but didn't realize how much the girls would do it too.

* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Molly is going to Yale and Amy is going to Columbia, and when Molly asks her classmates about their post graduation plans, they involve (also) going to Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and a lucrative programming job at Google. Even CloudCuckooLander Gigi guiltily states she's going to her "fifth choice", Harvard. It's a plot point that Molly assumed everyone else were underachievers because they had active social lives. However, exaggerated in that it also seems very unlikely that ''that'' many students in one school would go to such extremely prestigious schools. (One would also assume that if all those kids were going to those schools, they would also have been taking the same advanced classes as Molly and Amy, and their academic achievements wouldn't have been such a surprise to the girls.)

* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Molly is going to Yale and Amy is going to Columbia, and when Molly asks her classmates about their post graduation plans, they involve (also) going to Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and a lucrative programming job at Google. Even CloudCuckooLander Gigi guiltily states she's going to her "fifth choice", Harvard. It's a plot point that Molly assumed everyone else were underachievers because they had active social lives. However, exaggerated in that it also seems very unlikely that ''that'' many students in one school would go to such extremely prestigious schools.

* MomentKiller: Amy and Hope start to have sex, until Amy nervously takes a drink and promptly pukes all over Hope.

* FoeYay: Amy and Hope get together after being mean to each other all through high school.

* StrawFeminist: Discussed, and explored. Amy, and ''especially'' Molly, are culturally-savvy, mainstream-leftist girls in the vein of Hillary Clinton's supporters, and reference everything from [=#MeToo=] to various waves of feminism. Amy and (again, ''especially'') Molly also have their heads stuck up their ass about it (Amy's planning to spend the summer in Botswana--a country in a continent that isn't known for its progressiveness--to teach women to make their own tampons and Molly's speech is a generic call to action against straight white men) ''and'' are hypocritical (Molly joining in the gossiping against "Roadside Assistance" for "sucking off three guys"). However, much of the film shows that the girls mean well, and it's made clear the message is not "feminism is negative", but "being progressive does not absolve you of your personal failings".