I find that Easy A is somehow a proper tribute to John Hughes, the guy who is responsible for 80's teenage flicks, such as Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hughes has set up the benchmark of what so-called smart and contemporary teenager movies (back then, stars like Matthew Broderick and Molly Rigwald were youth idols). Alicia Silverstone was the cover girl of the 90's, thanks to her irresistible act as the spoiled Beverly Hills blonde girl in Clueless. Lindsay Lohan was predicted to be the new teenage star (before she committed lots of suicidal career moves) after portraying naïve high-school girl from the suburb in Mean Girls. These two movies have received many acclaims because they have good storyline without cheesy dialogues, and even better, the main stars were really shining on all scenes.
Fast forward another decade; I haven’t seen any other typical good and quality teenager movies, since the trend has changed into a different ‘type’. Thanks to American Pie, nowadays similar genre is not far from nudity or exposing blonde stupidity. Luckily, there are still some bright minded people and clever studio to execute a project such as Easy A. Typical as the previous mentioned movies, Emma Stone is the centre of the whole story, and I must say, she’s truly a perfect casting for the role of Olive Panderghast. Apart from her attractiveness, she is also outstanding and irresistible; you’ll end up loving to see her in every scene. In short, Stone really handles Easy A single handedly, good acting, funny, lovely expression, amazing lines delivery, and even convincingly sang Pocketful of Sunshine stupidly…hey not many can do that but still looks gorgeous!
The story starts with a simple lie which ends up being uncontrolled gossip and wrongly public interpretation. Olive and Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) are besties who go to Ojai high school, California. Olive is smart, intelligent, and and never gets into trouble...well practically she's invisible. Until one day, Olive tries to avoid her best friend's dinner invitation by telling her that she went on a date with fictional guy. Olive convinces Rhi and creates a believable story of a one-night stand tale, that she's not virgin anymore. Instantly, the rumour of this fabled story has spread out to the entire school, including Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the leader of School Christian Crusade who thinks Olive is comparable with Hester Prynne’s adultery from ‘Scarlett Letter’. Literally at the speed of light Tweets, Facebook, and texts broadcast Olive's promiscuity. Then, a gay guy Brandon (Dan Byrd) asks for her help in the light of her reputation to act that they sleep together in order to spread the news that he’s a straight guy. After the false dramatization at a party, the news travel fast about Olive’s and Brandon’s action, which put her under the radar by all students. At first, she’s enjoying the whole attention, but bit by bit, the whole lies becomes down spiralling in the direction of uncontrollable and unrepairable, since suddenly lots of other ‘Brandons’ come forward to ask for the similar help.
To think Easy A is just another teen movie is a major understatement. It’s a strong film yet confident and well-paced. I like how the story told from Olive’s self broadcast video which she opens up the whole story and divides the movie into several chapters (notice that each chapter title always comes in smart and intelligent wording). It’s a refreshing experience which I haven’t seen in Hollywood for the past few years, perhaps after Mean Girls. It’s enjoyable, frequently funny with a witty script, great characters and an utterly charming central performance from Emma Stone.
Apart from Stone, Easy A is supported by other great cast. Amanda Bynes manages to change her ‘good looking’ image into a very annoying fanatical yet back stabber bitch, Thomas Haden Church is very convincing and charismatic as the Olive favourite teacher, while Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson teams up as Olive’s parents. I really enjoy the parents characters, since they are so funny and hilarious, the jokes are on the spots, while they still show good parenting, especially Tucci, he’s never being funnier. Church and Tucci steal some scenes with their array of comic genius. Penn Badgley (from Gossip Girl) as Todd, Olive’s love interest, is a good additional character to provide at least one positive decent guy in the movie. Another inspiring performance is delivered by Malcom McDowell as principal Gibbons, while Lisa Kudrow did some small role but important one (but she still can’t escape her ‘Phoebe’ tag).
The drawback of Easy A perhaps lies in the very predictable ending, which is sort of too good to be true, especially how Olive can hook up instantly with a decent guy after a string of wrongful doings (which I think not many guys can accept it open heartedly). Another concern is the topic may somehow is a bit beyond the target audience (well, I still found it surprising and quite daring in some aspects). However these minor things aside do not make Easy A is less enjoyable. This modern Scarlett Letter story is well packaged, with Emma Stone is so winning in a star-is-born performance that you happily sit back and enjoy.
My Rating: 8.5/10
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