TMG Scale 8.0
Starring Emma Stone, Lisa Kudrow, Thomas Church, Fred Armisen, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci
Joy Lynn: Easy A is the perfect name for this movie because Emma Stone is “Awesome” in her role as Olive Penderghast.
Olive is a witty and smart girl who is supposedly completely unnoticed at her high school until she tells a white lie about losing her virginity to a close friend. (Hard to believe Emma Stone would EVER be unnoticed!) The lie goes viral and Olive finds herself getting all kinds of propositions to lie about having sex and getting paid for doing so. Even her gay friend Brandon(Dan Byrd) asks her to say he had sex with her so that the other students will think he’s straight and stop making his life miserable. From here, her reputation as a slut grows and Olive starts wearing the letter “A” for adultery on her clothing based on the book, The Scarlett Letter she is studying in English class. By now, she is putting everyone one. It’s her joke. Olive’s parents Dill (Tucci) and Rosemary (Clarkson) are hilarious. They are the cool, ultra liberal, anything goes parents all teens wish they had.
In this era of texting and the Internet it doesn’t take long for rumors to get started and a person can become someone other than who they really are. The film weaves in lessons on social conduct and family life. A funny and witty film you don’t want to miss. Put this one on your A list.
TMG: I agree. This is a pure and fun high school comedy. It is too easy to find faults with details such as none of the principal actors look anything like high school kids. Hollywood always does this. It is forgivable error for a movie almost on par with Ferris Buhller’s Day Off (1986), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) or perhaps even Dazed and Confuzed (1993). The high school clash between the jocks, the dweebs, the nerds, the bible beaters, the stoners, the bullies and the smart asses thrives from generation to generation. High school is somewhat like a four year try out session for life. Easy A demonstrates that high school life never really changes that much, but technology does. Cell phones and text messaging has accelerated the high school rumor and reputation mill to a speed faster than it takes to walk from the biology lab to gym class. Watch this one with any crowd from your own generation at home on Friday night over a few beverages. Emma Stone is just adorable! But her parents often steal the show.