20 Best Movie Performances Of 2019

17. Beanie Feldstein - Booksmart

Booksmart was one of the funniest films of 2019, and its comparisons to Superbad were myriad, egged on by the fact that one of its two leads was played by Beanie Feldstein, the sister of Jonah Hill.

But Feldstein's co-protagonist Molly ends up being the movie's easy highlight: a strong-headed, impossibly driven young woman trying to make sense of the confusing chaos of the high school experience - and its end.

Feldstein does a fantastic job side-stepping easy coming-of-age movie tropes, crafting a believable liberal millennial with all the concern and frustration with the world that this entails.

Her chemistry opposite Kaitlyn Dever's Amy - who is also terrific here, by the way - is some of the finest seen in any movie this year, ensuring that while Booksmart isn't quite the pop-culture monolith that Superbad was, it's just as touching a tale of friendship.