There is no real reason I should have enjoyed Easy A as much as I did. It is a teen comedy, the likes of which I usually tend to avoid. But if nothing else, I suppose Easy A should teach us a very important lesson: casting can be everything.
Emma Stone (The Help) plays Olive, a slightly nerdy and quiet high school student. In order to get out of hanging out with her best friend's weird family, she lies about going out on a date with a college kid. The next day, she then also lies about sleeping with that college kid just to get her friend off her back. As I am sure we all painfully remember, news travels like wild fire in high school, and Olive is quickly branded as a slut. Coincidentally, they are reading "The Scarlet Letter" in English class, and Olive is inspired. Though she is not quite ostracized the same way Hester Prynne is in the classic novel, Olive still faces a similar social stigma and begins to ironically wear a scarlet A on her outfits, just to mess with people. This...just kind of makes things worse. Lies continue to spiral out of control and beyond anything that Olive can manage. Hilarity ensues.
As I mentioned, the key to Easy A's success is the cast. Emma Stone is fiery, biting, and quirky (without using the quirkiness as a gimmick) and she absolutely carries the film. The rest of the cast is equally good. Her very peculiar parents are played by seasoned pros Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada) and Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April), and this pair tends to steal many of the scenes they are in. The school's personnel includes Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) as her English teacher, Lisa Kudrow (Friends) as her counselor, and good ol' Malcolm McDowall (Clockwork Orange) as the principal. The fellow students, often the weak link in these movies, all put in pretty funny performances, especially the love interest played by Penn Badgley, who shows way more charm and comic timing here than he ever has on that piece of crap Gossip Girl show he stars in (I HATE THAT SHOW).
Emma Stone (The Help) plays Olive, a slightly nerdy and quiet high school student. In order to get out of hanging out with her best friend's weird family, she lies about going out on a date with a college kid. The next day, she then also lies about sleeping with that college kid just to get her friend off her back. As I am sure we all painfully remember, news travels like wild fire in high school, and Olive is quickly branded as a slut. Coincidentally, they are reading "The Scarlet Letter" in English class, and Olive is inspired. Though she is not quite ostracized the same way Hester Prynne is in the classic novel, Olive still faces a similar social stigma and begins to ironically wear a scarlet A on her outfits, just to mess with people. This...just kind of makes things worse. Lies continue to spiral out of control and beyond anything that Olive can manage. Hilarity ensues.
As I mentioned, the key to Easy A's success is the cast. Emma Stone is fiery, biting, and quirky (without using the quirkiness as a gimmick) and she absolutely carries the film. The rest of the cast is equally good. Her very peculiar parents are played by seasoned pros Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada) and Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April), and this pair tends to steal many of the scenes they are in. The school's personnel includes Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) as her English teacher, Lisa Kudrow (Friends) as her counselor, and good ol' Malcolm McDowall (Clockwork Orange) as the principal. The fellow students, often the weak link in these movies, all put in pretty funny performances, especially the love interest played by Penn Badgley, who shows way more charm and comic timing here than he ever has on that piece of crap Gossip Girl show he stars in (I HATE THAT SHOW).
The movie does have some issues. Sometimes the script is a little too clever for its own good, calling attention to its own strangeness. This can get distracting in some scenes, especially the ones without Stone, who manages to make all of her odd lines completely believable. Another thing that bothered me is that they resort to the stock, judgmental and overly religious group as the high school bad guys. I understand that judgmental and hypocritical prudes are a huge part of "The Scarlet Letter," so I get what they are trying to do. But I don't think it works as presented here. And with all the entertaining characters floating around everywhere else, I wish they had been more creative here than just resorting to the old cardboard cutouts. Basically, in all these high school movies, if you are religious at all, you're automatically bad, and that annoys me. Sometimes this type of character works really well (like Mandy Moore in 2004's Saved), but here it is just a bothersome cliche.
Anyway, that is really a small complaint in what is otherwise a very entertaining film. I would absolutely check it out if you get a chance. It may surprise you!
MVP:
No doubt in my mind. Emma Stone, for sure. Of the young actors moving up the ladder these days, she might be my favorite. She has terrific comic timing and is able to equally sell edgy and nerdy. In the case of Easy A, she takes a movie that might have been merely amusing and lifts it into something way more entertaining (and picking up a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination in the process). With Crazy Stupid Love and The Help, this has been a great year for her, and I think her star is just gonna keep rising.
BEST LINE:
Mom: No judgement, but you kind of look like a stripper.
Olive: Mom!!!
Dad (trying to calm her down): A high end stripper, for governors or athletes.
Olive: Mom!!!
Dad (trying to calm her down): A high end stripper, for governors or athletes.
TRIVIA:
All the members of Olive's family are named after food. Her parents are Dill and Rosemary. Her brothers are Chip and Kale. That is, uh, odd. But interesting.
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