Cherries And Cocktail Banter

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Are you gonna leave any cherries for the rest of us for our second drink? Clearly. Um, I mean, she's just sitting there with a spoon at this point.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

It's a garnish.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

You're a garnish.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Your face is a garnish.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

I'm gonna never mind. Greetings,

Booksmart Setup And Big Praise

SPEAKER_02 0:33

andor salutations, and welcome to Imbibe Cinema. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, along with Patricia Leggett. Uh, in this episode, we are going to be discussing Olivia Wilde's Book Smart while imbibing the horny schoolgirl. Hey, you're the one that found the recipe. That's that's on you. Well, it applied to the film.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

But speaking of, this drink is pretty and pink.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Oh my lord, is it pink?

SPEAKER_02 0:55

And it has a cherry.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Yes, it is pinkie pie pink.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Yeah, it's a pink.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Or if it's Trisha's glass, she's got like 12 cherries.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

It's all right. I'm gonna pop a lot of cherries tonight. Oh, Jesus. The uh recipe can be found on our website, imbibesinema.com. Uh the Imbibe Cinema podcast is brought to you by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as Bwiff. So, Book Smart, this film was amaze balls. As soon as the credits were rolling, that was the only thought that went through my head was amaze balls. Olivia Wilde's feature directorial debut was an absolute home run. It's honestly one of the funniest films that I've seen in a long time, and it's incredibly witty and deep. And while this story focuses on two very focused young women and their realization that there is more to high school and life than being like the valedictorian or getting into the prestigious schools, what was even more impressive about this script is its ability to break down character cliches, especially high school character cliches, and show all of the dimensions of each of the supporting cast. I was I was stunned.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yeah. My favorite characters were almost the supporting cast. That's not, that's not any like negative hit on our two leads. No, it was just well rounded.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Right. And nobody was nobody was easily dismissed because you're like, oh, you're this character, you're this stereotype, you're this cliche. Everybody was like, oh, I can't what? And that that was amazing. And they're three-dimensional.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

And they specifically lead you to believe it's going to be that kind of a high school movie up front. They they give you all these characters, they put them in the cliche moments, and then all of a sudden the walls start coming down and you start to understand more about each and every one of them, and and you start to get this human element that you're like, okay, I understood that you were the over-the-top theatrical director, but at the same time, it's like, oh, okay, I I didn't understand all these other elements that were going on in your life.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So let's

The Hook And Audience Magic

SPEAKER_00 2:48

start with Michael and his hook.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Michael, how did you feel the hook when you're grabbed in the first uh in the first scene?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

I was able to see this movie before it actually hit theaters, which was a pretty cool experience. The theater was packed, and I ended up having to sit in the like the second row. Sometimes with comedies like this, you have a connection with total strangers who are sitting next to you. And this was a sold-out theater. Every seat was filled. And I just went by myself. So the people on either side of me were total strangers. And there were moments where you know you're laughing so hard. We you know, you'd turn and look at each other and we'd be like, I can't believe that just happened.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yeah, like you get a full sense of community.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Right. Well, and it's like, you know, if you went to go see a movie with a good friend, you'd have that exchange. Instead, you were like, No, I'm just gonna turn to this total stranger. We're gonna have we're never gonna actually have a conversation, maybe. But we're gonna shared. Yeah, this moment is shared.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

And there's something cool and magical about that. Like my first time realizing the impact, the true impact of being in a large audience versus watching something by yourself, uh, was when I went to see Star Wars. Uh, it was episode four, for gonna be technical, uh, New Hope. And it was in the theaters, they brought it back, right? So I am young enough to have never seen it in the theaters originally.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

However, old enough to have seen it in the theaters when it was re-released. Right. So there you are. And uh the thing was there was a point in the beginning of the movie where RTD2 falls over and the crowd just erupts. We all laugh. And I had seen this movie how many times growing up? And I was like, oh my god, this is funny. Why did I never think this was funny? Right. I I never paid attention to it, but all of a sudden this is really funny. And it's that that impact a group of people watching a movie have on each other where things are contagious, things are shared. Where uh, you know, in in any kind of uh horror film, there's that gasp, that collective gasp, where you kind of scare each other.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

And that's I would have loved to see this movie with an audience. And I'm glad you got to. We laughed, but I think it'd be much different in a group of people.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

I I I I was actually quite worried at a number of points that I kafawed or laughed so loud that the our children who are sleeping upstairs. I I was actually worried I was waking them up. Um I was laughing that hard. That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Find a copy of it when your kids are graduating high school and watch it as a family.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

No, no.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

I'm sure it will date well. That's a crap. And you could be like, kids, this is what it was like when we were young. Can I tell you, because I mean, I know American Pie broke down some boundaries uh as far as self-service and how we don't talk about it, but it happens. And uh I'm glad to know that we can finally have uh the female perspective on that. And yeah, it's a little less horrifying because it's adorable. It's a panda.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Who doesn't love panda?

SPEAKER_00 5:45

It's a panda. I mean, the one eye thing is weird.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah, what what happened to the one eye? Uh that happened that happened before, long before the instant. My my my one of my favorite scenes uh in this, uh especially just from the the level of awkward and how hard I was laughing, uh, is specifically when uh Lisa Coudreau and Will Forte uh literally it's like towards the very end of the movie, and uh uh Lisa Coudreau just starts kissing the bear essentially to to to you know, because she's taking it to Africa with her. Uh and she's like, Oh, I can't believe you're taking Lingling. And she's you know, she's like, Oh, you can take these kisses with you, and she's just kissing the bear. It's just great because you've got uh Amy and Molly, the two leads, Caitlin Deber and Beanie Feldstein. And Beanie is specifically just losing her shit because she knows what happened to this poor bear. Um and then Will Forte goes to reach for it, she just slaps it out of his hands, like because he is not kissing that. That is awkward to the nth degree. That would be so much.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

It was long before that. Yeah, but I think one of my favorite lines is when Molly gets Amy to confess and we learn about Ling Ling's sorted past. And she she something about like uh you can make yourself come just by thinking about it. I wish I could do that. My brain is so smart, but it can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Yeah. No, the uh they they do such an amazing job. And we will be talking about like the cast specifically, a casting crew, uh uh, you know, in the in the in the act two, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Well, and I did realize I actually never answered your question about the hook. So um for me, it was I mean, I really did enjoy the opening scene.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Um She's meditating, yeah. Listening to the uh self-help, which literally just tells her, like, fuck those losers.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

I did enjoy that. And then you get like your title, boom, and the movie begins. But it was the very next scene when you know she goes outside and the risks that Olivia Wilde was gonna take. I loved the way that she let scenes unfold. It was, it it made it so unpredictable, I felt. Yes. Because it would be like, okay, you know, like, how long are we gonna do this? I don't know. It's like, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Are we ever gonna go to school?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

I actually don't know how long this scene is gonna go, but I'm fine with it because it's it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

And then she plays on that later on, which I can go into later, but I love the way that she would like let a scene unfold and you think you'd be going, like we talked a little bit about like, you know, triple A. You think that the scene is gonna be going into this emotional direction, and then all of a sudden it's like, wake up, you get slapped right across the face, and you're like, oh it catches you by surprise.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I

The Plot Wake Up Call

SPEAKER_00 8:25

don't know about you guys. Everybody suffers in high school. Everybody suffers, right? Yeah. So one of the things I found interesting was this seemed to be the nicest high school.

unknown 8:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Like everybody, even if they don't get along, like everybody's still nice. Like nobody's shoved in a locker. There's none of that. There's no like so mean and hurtful that like it destroys you watching somebody get destroyed.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Uh there's there's no violence. It's uh it's like the nicest high school, and everybody is so fucking smart. My god, they're all going to Georgetown and Stanford and Yale and Harvard, and you're like, you're seriously, like what we're in academia in in Los Angeles is this high school.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Yeah. So they are focusing their entire you know, high school career at at getting into good schools, and they have not done anything social. Uh, and it's not until um uh Molly realizes that the the people who she has felt are drastically beneath her, one of them is actually getting into the same school she is. Um and and then, you know, uh one of them is going right to Google uh instead of going to school. Of course, he failed the seventh grade twice. Um and then uh you know, and then another character is getting into a prestigious school and she snaps. Right. She loses it. She starts asking everybody where the heck are you going next year? And they're like, there's apparently an unwritten rule at the school where you're not allowed to talk about where you're going.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

She's the president of the student body and as a rule to the city. Annavalic Victorian. Yeah, she made up, she wanted people to feel bad. Oh, she would just say she was going to New Haven. And even the principal's like, we know that's where Yale is. Just say Yale already. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah. So she they obviously realize, oh my God, you know, we graduate tomorrow. This is literally the last day of school. They graduate tomorrow and they have done nothing. And so Molly decides that they are going to take four years of uh all the things they should have been doing and try to jam it into one evening.

Filming High School Like Action

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Um and what I found so fascinating about how the story unfolds and how Olivia Wilde uh you know uh directed this film is it doesn't it's not filmed like some sort of high school rom-com or or anything like that. In fact, actually in the bonus features, they talk specifically that they were trying to shoot it like a lethal weapon or or uh you know like like a buddy cop film training day and stuff like that. And like uh so like all the all the producers and everybody are like, okay, I'm intrigued on how this is gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

They wanted the intensity you get with high stakes of you know uh a buddy cop film, uh, but they wanted that applied to high school because in high school it feels that intense, which is wonderfully conveyed. And uh I know I know I had I had read that uh Olivia Wilde had talked about how she was inspired by like Clueless and Breakfast Club and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused. And it's interesting because I mean, yeah, I haven't seen all of those movies. I've seen half of them. Uh but what really struck me was Ferris Bueller's Day Off. And that's because Ferris is just trying to get Cameron to do something all day, and Cameron's just being dragged along. And that's Molly and Amy. Amy doesn't want to go, and Molly keeps making her go. And it's like, you're gonna have a good time. We're gonna do this, we're gonna do this. And it's kind of like that situation. And and I I just love how it's a rabbit hole that just keeps going. It's like a dream within the dream, it just keeps getting weirder and weirder. And my favorite character of all time is Gigi.

Gigi And The Running Surprise

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Gigi. Yes. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

She is my favorite character too.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Oh my god, she's amazing. Did you get here?

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yeah. And it becomes one of those those jokes that that every time they end up at a new location, you're just waiting for her. Literally waiting for Gigi to show up again. And that's that's Billy Lord, uh, which is Carrie Fisher's daughter. And and literally just I I don't want to say she steals the the show because, like I had already previously mentioned, everybody in this is amazing. Yeah, but she really steals some of the show.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

It's just an amazing job. I mean, A, it's a dream role. Anyone would want this role, it's an amazing role. And also for a female character, uh, I mean, this kind of role you'd normally see a guy play. Yep. Uh, the wild card, the I've got the breaks card. This is this is a crazy person.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Jumping off a yacht party where nobody else is.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yeah, she's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

And I think one of the writers uh in an interview Katie Silberman. Right. So Katie said that she was so amazing. Billy was so good in these scenes that they actually wrote her more scenes.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Oh, that's okay. So that's probably how she magically shows up at everything. Yeah. So I I love that they're they're they're trying to get to uh the most popular kid, the the vice president's party. And every time they try to get there, because they've never been invited out to any anything else, they don't have the address. Right. So n and and they're trying to get a hold of you know, X, Y, and Z, number of people, um, and and it just keeps backfiring on them. They call the excessively rich guy and he's like, oh yeah, I'll get you to the party. And then he, of course, takes them to a yacht.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

His party.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

His party. Where nobody where literally nobody is other than Gigi. But I love that in the car, in the car, they find what they think is like cocaine. Right. And uh they like he like comes to a screeching halt and they are just coated, coated in it. And of course, they get upstairs and Gigi's like, you smell like my vitamins. And it's one of the creepiest little things.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

But yes, but at the same time, you think it's gonna be a cocaine and they're gonna have this weird trip or why not. And no, no, it's not. It's really crushed up vitamins because she thinks snorting vitamins makes them more effective and because she's sh. Yeah. But at the same time, it's not like she's not gonna slip them a drug without knowing about it and they're gonna trip balls right there. And that is a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

It was a great fake out. Oh, yeah. Like, oh, okay, so I guess they're not gonna have a trip-out moment. And let's talk about that trip-out moment. Yeah,

Barbie Trip And Pizza Strangler

SPEAKER_01 14:25

because the Barbie doll was very unique. I think every time.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

At the same time, it's like, let's make a social commentary on women's image in the most amazing way.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

Yeah, they both turn into Barbie dolls.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Uh full one wants to stay, the other one's like, no, I'll get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

One's like, I am scared. Look how hot I am.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

I am gorgeous. I just want to spend more time looking at me. You rock that bond.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

And I also love that the Barbies they turned into were the characters they were given for the murder mystery.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Yes. And that's the second party that they end up getting to by the time that the strawberries are. The least strawberries, yeah, the theatrical dinner uh murder mystery. Um and that's that's when they head to the library. They do what they do best.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Research. And they research and then they have like that, you know, gangster cop entrance into the library.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

They they run that judge. They do run that judge.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Just a whole montage of them doing research and looking at maps, and then it's like, oh, wait, somebody posted a video of all these pizzas. How many orders like this could they have filled tonight? And then it comes the entrance of my favorite minor character ever. Michael Patrick O'Brien, the pizza delivery guy, aka the Hillside Strangler.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

And I love that he's so concerned about their safety.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

He's like, you guys can't do this. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Do you guys have a gun? Like, what are what are you doing trying to like because I have this right here in the glove compartment like for my own protection.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

I could I could take you across straight lines in like 45 minutes and they could like chain you up and have a saucer of milk and leave you there for you. Like, what?

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Yeah, what? It's very specific.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Very specific and it's like creepy.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

But they're wearing their ponytails on their faces to like to essentially mask. That was convincing. Very convinced. That was very creative.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

What are you doing? Don't show me your passcode for your phone. That's why. Security. Right. So he's he's trying to keep them safe. He's pointing out all how stupid they are, how he could he could do anything. This is terrible. Your children, you should know better. And they like get out of the car and like, whatever. And then later you see his sketch at the police department. You're like, oh my God, that man's a murderer.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yeah. Right. I think to him, like, I'm thinking like his motivation is this is just way too creepishly easy. Easy. I just can't. You have to leave. Like you've creeped me out too much.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Yeah, but he's having to be sitting there going, like, okay, there's got to be a camera somewhere. Like, this is this is a trick. Then they do finally arrive at the party.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Yes.

Popular Kids With Real Depth

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Um, and that is where I think some of the the the more interesting uh character choices for some of the secondary characters are made. Uh the the vice president, the most uh popular guy, uh starts talking uh Harry Potter to Molly, and Molly is already in love with him.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Um and um Well and you get to see a different side of him. He's a multidimensional character, like all the characters in this. And for me, I was like I was waiting for him to be the stereotypical jock that's going to like be cruel to her. He was never cruel to her.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

No, and I mean this stroke stroke, stroke. You had a stroke? I did. Just now. Yeah. No, this this uh struck home for me uh in particular, having a uh uh similar party experience uh but not to not to get too into my own therapy sessions. Okay, but I had I had been in a place uh uh where I was with a group of people that I figured they didn't know who I well popular people didn't know who I was or whatnot. I was invisible, right? And then uh this girl stole my boots and then went to this party and I was like, dude, I know all the popular people are at this party and and I would never go to this party, but I want my boots back. So I went to this party on, you know, uh the idea that I'm gonna get them back. And I would never have like shown up at somebody's party without being invited. I was like, oh no, but they won't know. They'll just I'll sneak in, nobody'll notice me, blah, blah, blah. And the guy who answers the door uh is the host, and he's like, You came to one of my parties? Oh my god, you can choose the music. And I was like, Oh my god, no, wait.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

No, drawing attention, drawing attention.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Too much pressure, I feel awful. But at the same time, really, you know who I am and you wanted me to go to your party? Oh my god. And I love that that's what happens to Molly.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

And she comes in and Molly and Annie, both of them are welcomed almost.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

And everybody's like, oh thank goodness, we've been wanting this since seventh grade. We were so excited you're here.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Again, nicest high school ever. There might be more nice high schools than you think. You're always in inside your own head thinking, oh, these people don't like me, or these people have a chip on their shoulder. You you know, because people aren't don't actually get to know everyone.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Well, it's true, but like with AAA, um I feel like she has all the reason in the world for how she's been treated in high school to be a horrible person. And a horrible person. She has she like she has that motivation and that and in my opinion, that right. Like you get it, but because you were seeing this other side, if it was somebody else's story, you would only see that mean side. So it's amazing that she could actually have this moment where she could break through that and be like, Look, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna pull over and I'm gonna give you a ride. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Not roadside assistance. No, but actually roadside assistance. She's always the car driving around town. So the really uh rich guy that hangs out with JJ Jared, uh, he's more than what he seems. And we are given like these glimpses of him early on in his entrances and his sad, sad party that nobody came to, and like the rumors about him uh like being having like well that that his father paid for a prostitute. Right. Uh for a birthday. Yeah. And all that. And then you find out, like you know, at the big party at the end, he just kind of just opens up.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

He wants to design airplanes, he wants to design airplanes and produce musical theaters.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

You know what? We've had enough of the revivals. Let's get some original work out there. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

You're like, wait, he's not even a theater kid. Like what the yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

In that moment, I was like, I mean, I love this kid. I mean, I've loved him throughout the whole movie because I think he's hilarious. But I was like, How does your brain work?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

How did you get there? Yeah. And Miss Fine. We haven't talked about Miss Fine.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

We have not talked about Jessica Williams uh from The Daily Show.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

It's in a lot of high school movies where you have the cool teacher, and this cool teacher actually goes to the party because she was uncool in high school and she's trying to make up for it.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Now she also saves the day and and and comes and picks them up.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

She does. She saves them and then she has this uh Well, well, she's already there, so and then she has a wardrobe in her car. And I love that her wardrobe.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

I love that sequence, right? Sequence, sequins, and sequins, man. Speaking of Miss Fine, what was interesting about how that played out is instead of it just being a comic bit, because of that that conversation in the car on the way there, you don't be like, Yeah, don't be like me. You could see her motivation and it and it didn't take a whole lot of effort. You could see this other side of this character.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

I just I just love that specifically with Jason Sadakis, and they're running out of battery in their phone. And of course, you know, with with today's uh wonderful cars, uh they plug in uh an adapter to the car to, you know, um watch porn. Quietly between the headset that they have, and he thinks they're listening to their own music instead of what he's put on. And so, of course, switches over to, you know, their audio.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

And is that the new was it Nicki Minaj or Party B.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

From what you hear, what you hear, what you actually hear, makes you go, what in God's name is the visual? Like I can't imagine how that that is a weird sound.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

It it goes it goes well with their expressions.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

The choices for the wardrobe in this were very unique across the board for every character. And it just made it uh so much more fun.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

No matter how weird the humor, no matter how slapstick the humor, there's always depth behind it. There's always uh something behind it. And that to me really connects. That makes it funnier, that makes it more enjoyable, that makes you really connect to the film.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

It's what makes it a really smart script, too.

The Malala Pact Secret Word

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah. Like really smart.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

And uh the other thing uh before we stop uh for a break, uh Malala. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

A couple times during the the film, um uh Molly or Amy says Malala, and essentially what what You only get like one of those years. Exactly. So it's essentially calling in the the the ace of spades. You're saying you're going to do whatever it is I said you're going to do uh regardless. And that the reason why is no questions asked. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Right. And this is just it's a pact between uh these two friends, and I love that there isn't this giant exposition about why. They call it Malala because of the uh Nobel Prize laureate. She's uh uh an activist for uh women's education, girls' education. Uh and if you don't know who Malala is, uh look her up because everybody pretty much does. If you see her image, you know who she is. Yes, yes. She's an amazing uh young woman. And that uh these two women, of course, are going to be like that, of course, is gonna be their secret word.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Uh we'll be back to imbibe more after this.

New Voicemail Feature For Listeners

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Hey Michael, I got some cool news. You got some cool news? I love cool news. What's the news? Our listeners can actually send us a voicemail now. And I'm thinking that maybe this will work better than text.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

You think you think that the reason was because they had to actually like type things where now they can actually speak to it?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Right. The cool thing is now they can actually leave us a voicemail and then we can play that voicemail on the show. And then answer that voicemail. In real time. In real time. So well, almost real time. Yes. Well, sub, right. Sub real time. Sub real time. In our real time. Yes. Not their real time.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Not their real time.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

But yeah, so they can leave us a voicemail with their film suggestions or what they think that we should cover on the show that we haven't yet.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

I think that would be pretty cool. Or they could even like just say, hey, you know, you talked about this movie and you didn't talk about this, and I think you should be talking about this. That's more than fair. And but then we can address that. So yeah, they should totally do that.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

It's audience interaction. All right. So, so uh, yeah, not only can you leave us a text, but you can also leave us uh uh a full voicemail, and we will be able to uh hear and respond to either your text or your voicemails. Perfect. Once again, you are listening to Imbibe Cinema. I'm Jonathan C. Luggett, and we are discussing Book Smart uh while imbibing uh Horny Schoolgirl Honey. Yes. Uh do you like this episode despite what just happened? Please subscribe or follow us on your favorite podcast providers to get the new episodes as soon as they become available.

Olivia Wilde’s Process And Demon Baby Story

SPEAKER_01 25:40

After seeing this movie, I'm first in line for any future Olivia Wilde movie. I don't even care. I don't need to see the trailer. I'm I'm game.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

And the fact that uh she takes her approach to it. Like she had the two leads uh live together. Yeah, she suggested that. Uh she knew right away, I think uh Beanie's character, Molly, uh Beanie read for somebody else first, and that character was cut from the film, and then she decided, no, no, I want Beanie for Molly. Uh and uh she'd I'd seen interviews with her about this, but uh I from my own uh experience, Olivia Wilde, I I'd seen her on a house. That's pretty much how I I uh knew who she was. But then I saw this interview with her one night, and I was like, I love Olivia Wilde and I want to be her friend. Oh, you have to talk about this interview. Because this is where, okay, first of all, I'm pregnant, so I'm emotionally susceptible anyway. At that time, not right now. Right now, I'm a cold bitch. But before that, I was pregnant, I was all warm and fuzzy. So I'm watching this uh interview where she's talking about how when she was pregnant, because she had done a horror film at the time, uh, she had been loved watching uh there was a I think it's a TLC show or something where uh it's like I didn't know I was pregnant. And I was like, what is this? I need to watch this. And then she tells me in this interview that I'm watching on television.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

She reached out through the TV. You can tell she was pregnant at this point and I have disconnection.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Um she says uh her favorite episode is there's a baby in my sweatpants, and I'm like, I need to watch this show. So uh if you ever want to see that, you should watch it. It's very interesting. But uh then she follows it up with uh afterwards that uh she would was woken up in the middle of the night, like 4 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

After she'd had her child.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Yes. After the baby is born, baby's in the nursery, or you know, the room next door or whatnot. And you have that real like the technology we have today where we just like back in the day with our parents, they would just like put you to bed and be like, hopefully you're still there in the morning. She had the this monitor that was the uh video audio monitor. We opted not to get the video monitor, we'd hear too many creepy things about it.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

So anyway, uh, she had the this monitor. She wakes up at like four in the morning to the sound of like horrifying sound. And she looks at the monitor and she says, It it looks like a demon's colonoscopy. That's what's going on on the monitor. And her first thought from a dead sleep is, Oh my god, a demon has my baby. Well, yeah. I mean, I would think the same thing out of a dead sleep. Thank you. She thinks I'm like, yes, we think exactly alike. That's where my mind goes. Uh, especially if you've been watching Supernatural and you're pregnant, and all of a sudden all that Catholic comes back rushing at you, and you're like, I just can't. The baby has eyes that are really dark at night when you have to spend time with them, and you're just like, I don't do I have a demon baby. But anyway, lack of sleep is dangerous. Anyway, she goes into this room, and again, I love Olivia. She goes into this room. How many of you were like, a demon has the baby? Let's wait till the morning. Find some holy water, you get across, you go in there with the old priest and a young priest. Right, you know, but she just went in there with nothing. She just went in there to save her child from the children. She's Olivia Wild. She can take it on DVD. Yeah, exactly. She just goes right for it. And uh, only to find the child is uh in the uh in the crib, uh gnawing, chewing on the monitor. The video monitor. Yeah, so that would that's when I was like, this woman is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Yeah. Um that's a great story. Yeah, she's a great storyteller when she was being interviewed and when she's directing a film.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Yeah, wait a bring it back to the topic.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

See?

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Look at you. That's so professional. I mean,

The Real Message Behind The Laughs

SPEAKER_01 29:06

really, there are not very many movies out there uh or plays, stories in general. Um, I feel that you can break down every character in the story. You can break everybody their moment. Yeah, well, and not even like not even just their moment, like break down who they are so you can see them from multiple different angles. Yeah. That it's so hard to do.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Well, and like the theme, the message here, when you you think you're in high school and you think you know who you are, what you want to be, and it's all about a just a defining moment. Who am I going to be? What do I want? And it's all about one thing. Kids get so focused on one thing, what their career path is, what school they're going to. Uh, you know, there's so much there that's very specific and it's just one-dimensional because you focus all your energy in one way. Because it is a very intense environment. The moral of the story is there's more to you than one thing. There is more to everybody than one thing. And you've got to take the time to see past what your initial impression is because there is so much more there, especially to to high school students, and especially like that, you know, uh girls are funny.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

And filthy. And that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Mm-hmm. Yes. And witty. And at the same time, I think that that we also need to pay homage to uh Emily Halpern, uh, Susanna Fogle, Sarah Haskins, and Katie Silberman. Uh uh they are the four writers of this film, and and you know, uh just absolutely yes, uh I I will give applause on that as well. They did an amazing uh job setting all these characters up for for just pure comedy goals. And Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins had actually been uh working together, uh a film called Dilf in 2010. Um, but actually a number of of the credits that each of them have are with each other. Uh so they seem to be kind of a unit. Susanna Fogle uh uh helped write uh The Spy Who Dumped Me. Uh and then you got Katie Silverman who uh uh wrote How to Be Single and uh Isn't It Romantic. I mean, a a lot of like female driven uh stories, female-centered because they're not common, sadly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Well, and the cinematographer for this, uh that one shot that shot that was all the way through the party where Amy is looking for Molly after finding out that the girl that she liked, was it Ryan, is straight after all.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

And and uh with the guy that Molly liked. And so you have like this moment where she's traveling through the house and it's just one shot.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

I mean, the whole movie in general feels very natural light. Yep. Um especially the party, you know, as as you know, glamorous as it can be, like that part where she's being like Oh yeah, the dance sequence and being drawn out to like, you know, the the pool and and that under the the water bit and all that, it still felt it felt very real. It felt like a high school party. Yeah. Went to high school theater parties. Those are not high school parties.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

No, they're not, and they're well lit. Um so I I really want to call out Allison Jones. Allison

Craft Shoutouts And Final Cheers

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Jones was the uh the casting for this. Like the the the the range of the talent that she found is just so amazing because she really assembled this all-star cast of people who aren't necessarily stars. Next up on my list, I guess, um, is uh Jamie Gross, who did the editing. Um you're constantly waiting to see what's going to happen next.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

I love the uh the car sequence at the end. I love how it just gets weirder and weirder and more incoherent. It starts out like they're driving, they're gonna go really fast. They're gonna get there in seven minutes instead of like twenty. And then all of a sudden it's just like we're on one side of the road, we're on the other side of the road. Yeah. And all of a sudden we're just screaming and spinning, and it's like, what the hell? Burst through a gate, smoke up, you know, it's just a very, very, uh, very cop entrance.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Yeah, it's perfect. All to get to graduation so that she can give the commencement speech.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

And we're all just fine with that. Yeah. Not like, okay, you were driving very recklessly. We're just like, good for you. Way to get out of your shell.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Well, I I I specifically love that uh um way to bust your friend out of jail. Jared, uh the Skylar uh Gizondo is is is is meant to go up in her proxy and give her speech. And her speech is like if you were a white man, he's just like, well, this is really awkward, but I love that.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

I love that exchange too, where it's like, um if if she weren't here on time, I'm supposed to start it. I don't think that that's right. She says that um in Congress, it starts to explain. Frank's like, oh yeah, yeah, no, that's right. She definitely said that. All right, okay, you can go on.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Yeah. That's all that is necessary to uh to to convince him. Yeah. Um, once again, we greatly appreciate our listeners uh for choosing this podcast and supporting independent films. Please uh check out our show notes or drop us a note. Once again, I am Jonathan Sealight, and thanks for imbibing with us. Cheers.