Easy A (***)


Directed by: Will Gluck
Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Alyson Michalka
Seen: January 20th 2011

*** Out of ****

From the first lines of Easy A the viewer feels something special brewing, be it in Olive Penderghast’s (Stone) opening monologue describing herself, or her first conversation with her best friend Rhiannon (Michalka), discussing the hotness level of the name George as Olive tries to con her way out of a weekend camping trip with Rhi’s hippie parents. Olive uses a date with George as an excuse, and once the weekend is over, Olive “happens into” telling Rhi that the date was good and that they slept together (Olive’s weekend is shown to be far less eventful leading into this scene). Unfortunately for Olive however, the school’s self appointed moral epicentre Marianne (Bynes) overhears the conversation and the news spreads like wildfire.

Easy A references the classic ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which the students are reading in English. Olive gets detention for a comment made to one of the members of Marianne’s possie, where she confides in Brandon (Byrd), who himself has an issue; he’s getting bullied because he’s gay. She decides to help Brandon (not in the least because he begs her), and they stage sleeping together at a big party; changing Brandon’s image for sure, but Olive’s even more. She is now the school harlot, and where previously invisible, the guys now clamour to be in her good graces. Before she knows it, she is inundated with requests for fake “action” from guys who find out the truth, and things gradually reel out of control.

At home she has a very supportive family, her dad Dill (Tucci) and her mom Rosemary (Clarkson) standing by her through everything, even though it’s in a semi-detached way through some interesting and very humorous actions. Olive’s love life flies below the radar as she can’t seem to get close enough to the one guy she likes, “Woodchuck” Todd (Badgley). She is approached by another guy from school, Anson, who asks her out pretty much as she thinks that with her new skanky reputation no-one wants to date her – and on their date the favours for money issue arises, and for a moment the movie even turns pretty serious here, but not for too long.

Easy A is easy entertainment and is a chick-flick that guys can also enjoy as it is sharp and hilarious without wallowing in its “chick-flick-ness” too much. Emma Stone successfully carries this movie without letting down for one second and all the supporting actors, apart from maybe Amanda Bynes (who takes the caricature a little too far), deliver great cameo-type performances; chief among these the foursome of Lisa Kudrow (her understated seriousness produces a villain of sorts), Thomas Haden Church (wise but interesting English teacher), Patricia Clarkson (the cool, fun and over-sharing mom), and Stanley Tucci (hilarious in his delivery of lines so over-the-top at times it must be improvisation while at the same time ringing with a domestic truth that draws you in to his actions).

Easy A is cool, it’s fun, and it’s pretty much this decade’s Mean Girls in terms of a chick-flick offering more than expected. Go see it, you won’t regret it. 

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