Movie Review: 'Easy A'

While watching EASY A, I wanted to be Olive’s (Emma Stone) best friend. I’ll be honest, if you were to tell me that there was a girl at school who’s pretending to screw the entire male student body, I’d probably seriously dislike her. But Stone is the picture of charisma, her quick quips as vivacious and fiery as that signature red hair of hers, making it impossible not to love her. I went into EASY A expecting the next MEAN GIRLS; we have a unique script that appears to have some insight on the inner-workings of high school, the witty protagonist, and (if the trailer was any indication) a bunch of lines we’ll be quoting for a good while. Unfortunately, EASY A doesn’t reach the caliber of MEAN GIRLS (what I consider to be the perfect teen comedy), but its fresh enough to stand out amongst most teen movies which, as much as I love them, generally rehash the same storyline and ingredients time and time again. That’s not the say that EASY A doesn’t fall victim to the use of cliches. Olive's biggest enemies at school, the stereotyped Christian fanatics, comes off as sort of a cop-out, and part of me was disappointed that they decided to go the whole “bible huggers” route, instead of trying to maybe look a little deeper into how “easy” girls are viewed and treated in high school by your everyday student…not specifically those wearing a purity ring.

The whole thing starts out with a little lie Olive tells her best friend about how she lost her virginity to a college guy. When Jesus freak Marianne (Amanda Bynes, back from her very short retirement from acting) overhears this in the bathroom, the rumor spreads like wildfire, quickly deeming Olive the school tramp. She decides to embrace the new image, and after doing a gay friend of hers a favor by pretending to have sex with him at a party with everyone outside listening, a string of guys follow suit, paying Olive in cash or gift certificates to do the same for them. I love the idea, don’t get me wrong…but after a while, it started to seem like if that many guys know that the whole thing’s a scam, then how is this helping their reputation? This nitpick aside, the movie packed a lot of great laughs into its short hour and a half time span. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson stole every scene they were in as Olive’s quirky, hysterical parents, playing off of each other to perfection. Other than them though, most of the wonderful supporting cast was underused, especially Thomas Hayden Church as Olive’s English teacher, and Lisa Kudrow as her guidance counselor. When it comes down to it though, you’ll probably know if this movie is for you or not. It stays pretty true to the tone of its trailer, and while it might not have been as laugh-out-loud funny as I expected it to be, EASY A has an overall cleverness about it that even if I wasn’t actually laughing, I couldn’t help but smile and acknowledge its endless sass and personality.

Rating: B+