Critics and celebs wanted to push “Booksmart” on audiences, what with its glorious 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and an impressive 85 on Metacritic. However, its ‘B+’ CinemaScore should have been a concern. Yes, that is a fine rating from audiences polled exiting the movie, but it’s not the kind of score that necessarily leads to incredible word-of-mouth. For that, you probably need an A, especially for a low-budget film such as this one, with barely any big stars and a box-office-debilitating R rating to boot.
In the end, the box-office numbers weren’t good. “Booksmart” earned just $22 million overall. There has been much debate as to how and why this could have happened, but Olivia Wilde [via Yahoo] has decided to go the easy route and blame the patriarchal dominance in our culture:
“People are more accustomed to male-dominated comedies, and there is still a certain reluctance to believe that women can make you laugh as hard. And that still exists, which is sort of nuts to you and me… But there’s still a lot of work to be done to say, like, hey, this is not a male-dominated game.”
Fact of the matter is this; It doesn’t help that the film has been somewhat overpraised by journalists. No, “Booksmart” is not the second-coming, it is not in the same cult-classic-worthy league as “Superbad” or “Dazed and Confused,” but it is a refreshing movie, given its two female leads, its unadorned pro-LGBTQ stance and the fact that a female director is behind the camera. That’s all great, but let’s not push it — Wilde’s movie has pacing problems and is not as authentic an experience as some may think it to be. Regardless, it’s one of the few American movies playing right now in mainstream multiplexes that can actually claim not to be a superhero movie, a sequel, a reboot, an adaptation or an an animated movie. That, in itself, is an achievement, but expecting a good but not great movie to explode at the box-office for the sheer sake of promoting inclusivity is not going to cut it with American movie audiences, despite the critical praise.