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Movie: First Review of "Easy A"
Banned
Member Since: 11/24/2009
Posts: 61,404
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The Hollywood Reporter:
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Bottom Line: An often hilarious and observant comedy about high school from the point of view of an extraordinarily smart and sagacious young woman.
TORONTO -- If, as the old comic apocryphally said on his deathbed, dying is easy but comedy hard, then how is it every so often a film comes along that makes comedy look so easy? Such is the case with "Easy A," a high school romp that turns a stale genre upside down with sly wit and sharp satire.
Certainly much of the credit goes to Bert V. Royal, a playwright and sometime TV writer who has crafted a smart screenplay that introduces a classical theme into contemporary youth culture. And director Will Gluck keeps the screen busy and vibrant without the current fad of attention-deficit, run-and-gun editing.
Most of all, a young actress was needed to carry the movie. Emma Stone, who has been waiting in the wings for such a starring opportunity, seizes the moment with such self-assurance and old-fashioned brio that she elevates the game of every actor who comes within her orbit. Consequently, the film is loaded with sparkling supporting performances that make the comedy oh-so-much richer.
"Easy A" has the potential to be that rara avis that connects with audiences below and above the 25-year age demarcation. But to reach that wider demographic, Screen Gems will need to market this as a "Juno"-like offering centering on a teenage girl with whip-smart dialogue and observant humor.
The story takes place in Southern California's Ojai Valley, the film's first stroke of brilliance as this lovely oasis of natural beauty with a spirited arts colony has scarcely appeared in movies since it was used to represent Shangri-La in Frank Capra's 1939 "The Lost Horizon." The conflicting interplay of liberal sensibilities and small-town small-mindedness underscores the themes in Royal's playful script.
You might not quite buy the notion that such a pretty and intelligent student as Stone's Olive Penderghast ever flew under everyone's radar at Ojai High School. But nevermind -- once a vicious rumor races through the campus, Olive certainly takes center stage. Trouble is, she is the source of the rumor.
To cover up for a dull weekend of doing absolutely nothing, Olive tells best gal pal Rhiannon (Aly Michalka) a lurid tale about having a hot romance with a college dude; she more than hints that she lost her virginity. Gossip-hungry Rhiannon is as pleased as she is shocked, but the tale is overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), leader of the school's Jesus-freak celibates, who is merely shocked.
The scandalized teen can't wait to tweet, so the social network of Ojai High is soon abuzz over Olive's promiscuity. Discovering to her surprise that her new notoriety is more appealing than alarming, Olive decides not to deny the rumor, which leads to surprising consequences.
Another school pal, Brandon (Dan Byrd), bullied because he is gay, persuades Olive to use her bad-girl reputation to help him fake his heterosexuality. Soon other losers in the popularity games of youth come to her with propositions.
It just so happens that while this is going on, Olive's English class, taught by the charismatic Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church), is studying Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." Realizing her newfound identity with its heroine, Hester Prynne -- a public pariah because of an act of adultery -- Olive starts to wear homemade trashy clothes festooned with a bright letter "A."
Her liberal-minded and most trusting parents (Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson), latter-day hippies one can only wish to have for parents, notice this change in their daughter and do question her about her choice of attire. But they never question her judgment or behavior.
So the film makes all sorts of comic attacks on hypocrisy, social networking, peer pressure, false values and double standards. Meanwhile, parents will no doubt thrill to any teen movie that treats the loss of virginity in a negative light.
If there's any drawback it's that the comedy peaks too early in Olive and Brandon's hilarious make-out behind closed doors at a raucous party. The film never finds anything nearly that funny in the subsequent "sales" of fraudulent sexual favors by Olive to other males eager to establish their reputations as studs. And the film struggles to find anything humorous in the sad demise of Mr. Griffith's marriage to a guidance counselor (Lisa Kudrow), which indirectly involves Olive.
The entire movie is framed as a live webcast by Olive to the entire community to confess her false career as a school ****. This allows Stone's character to offer wisecracks and wisdom while commenting on this career and everyone else's character-defining response to utter nonsense. The entire screenplay is shot through with zippy one-liners and puns that might possibly make the film funnier on second viewing.
The acting is terrific throughout, with gems by Tucci, Clarkson, Byrd and Church as well as Malcolm McDowell as the choleric school principal and Penn Badgley as Olive's true love, who, like her parents, pays no attention to rumors.
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...04113726.story
My "Easy A" thread was closed  , so I had to make a new one.
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Member Since: 2/6/2010
Posts: 4,899
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I loved the cast, i'm so excited to see it 
Seems to be very funny, with Amanda and Emma the must be amazing :heart: 
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Member Since: 10/2/2009
Posts: 18,322
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I'm excited to see this movie its looks hilarious and Emma Stone 
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Member Since: 2/6/2010
Posts: 27,892
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I am so excited for this movie!
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Banned
Member Since: 11/24/2009
Posts: 61,404
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Variety:
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Director Will Gluck would probably like to parlay "Easy A" into his coronation as the Twitter era's John Hughes (he even slips in a clip from "Sixteen Candles"). But what this high school morality fable really recalls is "Clueless" -- a comedy of very contemporary ill manners drawn from classic literature, an immersion in the young-adult lexicon and a potentially career-making showcase for its lead actress, Emma Stone. Though it forces auds to swallow some cafeteria-style baloney (is the American high school really such a hotbed of Puritanism?), the Sept. 17 release could achieve some kind of wonderful among targeted teens.
Loosely inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne and written by Bert V. Royal, "Easy A" has a title that might qualify as quadruple entendre, referring as it does to a grade; a girl, Olive Penderghast (Stone); sex; and Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter." When Olive's best friend, Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), refuses to believe her pal spent the weekend home alone, a frustrated Olive makes up an elaborate story about having lost her virginity to a college boy -- and is overheard in the girls' room by the ultra-religious Marianne Bryant (a reference to Anita?), a one-woman Spanish Inquisition. Despite Olive's protestations, Marianne, played with butt-clenching perfection by the soon-to-be-retiring Amanda Bynes, spreads the Olive story all over school, causing its subject to be treated as a pariah -- just as anyone, naturally, who had sex in high school would be.
Parents will find "Easy A" reassuring, given that it treats secondary-school students as heartless mullahs eager to maintain a fundamentalist approach toward sexual exploration. This is fantastic, of course, as is most of the film: Few people have parents as cool and funny as Dill and Rosemary Penderghast (Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson), and few high school girls are as confident, smart, funny or hot as Olive Penderghast, and if they are, they certainly aren't as invisible as Olive seems to be.
The only reason anyone pays attention to Olive, according to this daffy film, is her supposed sex life, which shifts into a fictional high gear when Olive realizes the good she can do with her ruined reputation: She pretends to have sex with her gay friend Brandon (Dan Byrd) so people won't think he's gay (a pipe dream, frankly). She has "pretend sex" with various nerds, kickstarting their social lives. She starts accepting payment, in the form of gift cards to Target or Office Max, while her reputation goes straight to Chapter 11. You might say she does the time without doing the crime.
The idea that Olive's supposed promiscuity would be such a hot topic among her peers is plausible enough, but if their high school is such a breeding ground for gossip, wouldn't the real story leak out as well? Not in the world of "Easy A," which, for all its edgy jokes and very funny dialogue, is a very morally upright tale -- and, though Marianne's ungenerous brand of Christianity is lampooned, a Christian story: Olive takes upon herself the supposed "sins" of the world -- homosexuality, nerdiness, etc. -- and delivers a form of redemption. She even takes the rap when Mrs. Griffith (Lisa Kudrow), the wife of her favorite teacher (Thomas Haden Church), gets in a sticky situation at school. That Olive is a candidate for canonization never crosses anyone's mind.
Is Olive practicing prostitution? Hair-splitters would say so, but hair-splitters likely won't be seeing "Easy A," with its silliness, over-the-topitude and fabulous leading lady, who caps her fresh, charming performance with a musical number at the end of the film. No one will hold it against her.
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Member Since: 9/5/2009
Posts: 11,946
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Aly Michalka
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 6/23/2008
Posts: 14,330
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I can't decide if I am excited for this movie or not because the trailer is giving me mixed messages. It looks entertaining and as though it has some amusing moments, but there's also something that makes it look terribly cheesy. I'll place the blame on Amanda Bynes.
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Banned
Member Since: 11/24/2009
Posts: 61,404
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Quote:
Originally posted by Patrick
I can't decide if I am excited for this movie or not because the trailer is giving me mixed messages. It looks entertaining and as though it has some amusing moments, but there's also something that makes it look terribly cheesy. I'll place the blame on Amanda Bynes.
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But everyone who's seen it loves it.
Variety is usually very, very tough on movies.
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Member Since: 12/13/2009
Posts: 14,460
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The next 'Mean Girls', perhaps?
Hopefully it's full of memorable quotes. I can't wait to watch this movie.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 6/23/2008
Posts: 14,330
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Quote:
Originally posted by Haus_of_Nicole
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But everyone who's seen it loves it.
Variety is usually very, very tough on movies.
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Yeah, it seems to be enjoying a pretty good reception. I'll definitely go see it out of curiousity, and I'll probably enjoy it, because I do love The Scarlet Letter and I like the way this movie incorporates that story.
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Member Since: 10/20/2009
Posts: 20,682
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I can't wait to see it 
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/24/2009
Posts: 70,975
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I'll try to watch this in theaters
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Member Since: 7/22/2010
Posts: 9,145
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I expect some gif worthy scenes from this movie
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Member Since: 4/2/2010
Posts: 17,951
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This movie looks great.
I browse ATRL and watch TV at the same time & the trailer always gets my attention 
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Member Since: 10/5/2009
Posts: 137,162
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It looks like a funny & good movie. I don't think it will top Mean Girls at all, but it will still be a nice movie.
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Member Since: 3/30/2009
Posts: 9,982
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yas
i need gifs from this movie
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Member Since: 6/30/2007
Posts: 18,079
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I hope this will be the next Mean Girls
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