Dir: Will Gluck, 2010
Smart and charming, just like its stars.
Snarky and savvy high school nobody Olive (Emma Stone) tells her best friend a big fat lie in the little girls' room and before she knows it, the whole school's gabbing about how she lost her virginity. Olive, being the kind-hearted and socially responsible girl she is, decides to use her newfound popularity for good rather than evil. To this end, she begins pretending to pitch to — and sometimes have her bases rounded by — a slew of tormented outcasts and unknowns, for sometimes measly fees paid in gift cards. What could go wrong? Seriously? A lot!
Easy A isn't a gut-buster, but it's a consistently good ride. It supplies plenty of snappy dialogue and winning characters to woo thoughtful teens and grown folks alike. Take Olive, who proves that a girl can be brainy without being socially awkward, sexy without being slutty and confident without being popular. Or look at Olive's unconventional, unwaveringly supportive and still-sexy parents, played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, and her crush Todd (Penn Badgley), a hot boy who's unafraid to look silly and sees through the same ol' h.s BS. (By the way, is it wrong that I found both Badgley and Tucci-in-the-tight-shirts a little lust-worthy?)
Another great thing about Easy A is that it's simultaneously pop and "high" culture literate. Discussions of The Scarlet Letter (both novel and horrid Demi Moore film "adaptation") have a natural place alongside homages to Say Anything and other 80s movies. Also, it doesn't go for cheap laughs and calls up cliches only to tear them down.
It's nice to think that all you need to survive a (stereo)typical high school is a good head on your shoulders and a handful of people who have your back. It's also kinda true. More truth? OK, here you go: Easy A isn't as spectacular as I thought it'd be, but it's very much worth watching.
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