Easy Girl

Easy A stars Emma Stone as she takes on the role of a very different type of High School student who, despite the image she acquires throughout the movie, endures her tribulations with astounding indifference. If Emma Stones character wouldn't have carried with her that perpetual gleefulness, the movie might have just moved in a completely different direction. Though the movie was undeniably a comedy, I could not help but ponder over the dark undertones that loomed in the background of all the comedy.

Olive is an outsider, as we quickly pick up when she spends her weekend chanting ''A Pocket full of Sunshine'' alone in her room. For some, this may well be the most funny part of of the movie; for me, it was sort of depressing. To me, it emphasizes her lack of a social life, and it is how I felt when I first saw the part. I understand this is far from how most others perceive this part of the movie, but anyways...

Olive is also incredibly intelligent, and her snappy and witty retorts stay with her all throughout the movie. She leads a distanced life but appears to be a contended, courageous and confident girl with little social angst. Her relationship with her laid back parents (who were, by the way, one of the funniest proponents of the movie) is open and genuine. With a sudden lie to her best friend, Olive's life transforms from being an overlooked girl (which appears a little strange judging by her look, but im digressing...)into a whirlwind of exaggerated rumors,boosting her image into someone of a more than, to phrase it nicely, liberal sense of promiscuity.

The movie itself was great. Don't get me wrong, it did contain many funny moments and was distinctly comical. However, I myself saw potential in the movie to be meaningful, and for a movie to be meaningful, it requires realism. I hardly think the scenario presented in Easy A resembles real life. Characters were, at least mostly, very stereotypical and flat. OK, maybe not all of them. Anyways, I hope you get my point. As far as Olive goes, I had just one critique, which is once again digressing from the comedic theme of the movie. I couldn't quite grasp how lightly she took her mortifying daily life. (Potential Spoiler!) How did she just suddenly become a beauty goddess brushing off guys with a sort or royal indifference when it wasn't even clear if she had ever kissed a guy before. An innate confidence, maybe? Just a few things to consider from my point of view, none of which really interfered with the comedic scheme of the movie.

So, let's talk of the comedic value of the movie. Honestly, I didn't have awfully many ''laugh-out loud'' moments. Probably (and here we go again ) because of the dark undertones whose probability of being explored by the writers I failed to discard throughout the entire movie. I think that if I would re-watch the movie with a more comedy-oriented mindset it would indeed be funny, but its first impression on me was undeniably thought-provoking. Taking aside all of the stereotypical clichés, I really think this movie has something to say.

Feel free to disagree with me. Maybe I'll re-watch the movie and jump to a different conclusion.

Easy A is another in a long line of high school rom-coms that feature actors who are much too old for high school. It is one of those things that you have to suspend your disbelief on from the get-go, and I was almost able to do that. My only stumbling block was Emma Stone who looks exactly the same as she does now, so trying to see her as a teenager was tough. Another thing that I struggled with in this film was the frustrating portrayal of Christians. As a Christian myself, I can admit that these types of judgmental jerks exist, but sometimes it feels like that's all we see of evangelicals in film. Aside from that small clique, though, I do wonder if promiscuity is seen as such a negative among teenagers nowadays. Somehow I feel like this entire movie would be a non-story if it were to occur in the modern day. The film is almost built like a period piece set in my childhood years, or like it should be taking place in a highly conservative southern state, as homosexuality is also presented as a huge shame factor. I think all of these things are less of an issue, particularly in a California high school in the 2010s.

However, if you let all the nitpicky flaws go, and just accept the movie for what it is, I found Easy A to be a rather charming and cute little film. The story draws a lot of inspiration from The Scarlet Letter, and does a great job of talking about that in the film. They aren't trying to hide what they are doing, instead it is a major plot point that the students are reading that book. I liked the acting performances, in particular all the adults in the film. Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci stood out in a great way, because they play non-traditional parents that kept making me laugh. The story has a number of humorous moments, but I was always looking forward to when those two would return for extra comedy. And in addition to the jokes, Easy A has all the other things you'd expect from a teen rom-com. They have a romantic arc (even if it is a tad under-developed,) some high drama moments, and even a moral to the story. I'll also admit that, despite the fact that these movies always seem so rote to me, I was genuinely surprised a couple times with this one. Easy A might not be one of the greatest movies in its genre, but it's a solid film that I would watch again.

What drew me to this film were the cast, on paper this was a great cast capable of great performances. And that's exactly the case watching Easy A. While there is nothing groundbreaking and while the cast drew me in initially the concept was a kind that was kind of interesting but could've gone either way.

That said, Easy A is lushly filmed with the cinematography and colour palette simply lovely. There is also a sparkling score, a good well-paced story, strong direction and a likable assortment of characters.

The two components of Easy A that really worked were the script and the cast. The script is not only fresh, but very funny too. In the cast also, I don't think there was a single cast member I didn't like, the first time in a film in a good while that's happened.

Emma Stone is truly charming and a breath of fresh air, while Amanda Byrnes with her witty humour is a hoot. Stanley Tucci gives one of his better performances in recent years and Patricia Clarkson is equally delightful. Thomas Haden Church is also hilarious, and it was really nice to see Malcolm McDowell again.

Overall, a funny and charming film and easy to like. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Through much of the beginning of "Easy A," you have to find all the '80s teen comedy homages fishy. Maybe director Will Gluck and Burt V. Royal are trying to dress up a classic Hughesian formula with modern banter and social media references. Then, somewhere near the halfway point, comes the admission. Olive, played by up-and-comer Emma Stone, confesses she wants her life to have a "Sixteen Candles" or "Breakfast Club" or "Say Anything" moment. Ah, and suddenly this is homage territory -- much better. Like the rest of this hip, fun and surprisingly touching comedy, any time "Easy A" wanders down the path of cliché, a killer line or great scene nullifies it.

It all begins and ends with Stone, who can do a little bit of everything, which ought to ensure her a long career. She can do typical teen comedy lead autopilot/earn our sympathy, she can command the improvisation-like tangential dry humor that has defined the comedies of the last five or so years and she can be the sensitive, fragile Molly Ringwald type. Nothing feels forced or unnatural in her performance. She seems to be having fun and milking to goofy nature of Royal's script.

More importantly, the reason "Easy A" is so good is because it never stops being about Olive's story. A high school nobody, Olive lets her best friend (Alyson Michalka) pressure her into lying about losing her virginity. The simple lie gets overheard by the super-Christian Miss Everybody (Amanda Bynes) and suddenly everyone sees Olive differently, or sees her period. After deciding to embrace the attention as school slut (the story reaches here a bit), Olive then starts to pretend to have sex with guys in need of a reputation boost, which consequently sullies her own.

The only real problem with "Easy A" is that there's no good reason to believe Stone was this unattractive nobody given her actual attractiveness and the friends she has -- and we're supposed to believe that suddenly everyone is interested in her because she lost her virginity. Gluck tries to spin this into a positive by making it almost comical how everyone is staring at her or waiting in a perfect line for her to come down the hall, but it's the one scratch in this gem -- take it or leave it. The script and humor and situations that arise eventually more than make up for this road bump.

Gluck's filmmaking is hip and common of modern comedy while the writing is clever and spontaneous. For no logical reason, a scene when Olive's gay friend Brandon (the one she helps first) comes over, Stone and Patricia Clarkson, who plays her mother, do this quick exchange of pretending they're in the Old South and a boy has come over and asked for her. Though completely random and a bit forced, they actually work well at making the characters seem more organic, which is the challenge of most comedies, especially those made today.

Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as the parents are the comic relief. When was the last time parents in a teen comedy were genuine comic relief? They walk a fine line between wacko and genuinely caring and loving parents, but it totally works. Two more originally funny parents haven't existed on film before. Characters such as the aforementioned best friend Rhiannon and Bynes' are more by-the-book as far as being teen comedy stencils, but like every other small flaw with the film, they're covered up by all the multi-dimesional and more interesting ones. Worthy of mention are school faculty members played by Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow and Malcolm MacDowell.

Most intriguing of all is how the film actually succeeds at finding moments of genuine drama. A few well-thought-out and creative plot twists introduce an intelligence seemingly foreign to these kinds of comedies. The key once again comes from staying focused on Olive's story. The film is structured as a retelling with narration from Olive, so it's told in a reflective manner, which ultimately keeps it from veering off course. It's about Olive wrestling with this lie and her feelings about how she wants to be perceived, along with her understandable pity for the boys who request her "services." High school's rough and reputation seems to be everything. Some elements of the high-school experience in "Easy A" might be way off, but that's dead on.

Although it lacks the intangible innocence of the numerous '80s comedies it references, "Easy A" has a unique and lively spirit of its own and is the best teen comedy (at least featuring a female, finally!) in years. More importantly, it shows that the modern teenage sense of humor and good storytelling don't have to be mutually exclusive.

~Steven C

I think this is one of the best movies of the decade. Emma Stone is awesome and such a great actress. The story is impressive and super truthful to American's high school current reality. The Story: Olive Penderghast is a normal high school student just trying to "blend in the crowd". At some part, she says she lost her virginity to a boy in community college and everyone starts to call her a "dirty skank". Then, she starts dressing like one and pretending to have sex for money. This girl just wants to find true love but anybody would ask her out. The movie ends in a high note with a precious lesson: don't worry about what the others say about you. Just live your life. Such a great movie. I do really recommend it. :) :)