EASY A

“EASY A” (Emma Stone)

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Scarlet Letter” takes it on the chin in this High School centered rom/com, but thanks to another young actress that continues to score high in ‘likeability’, Hawthorne’s body shouldn’t be rotating at a very fast clip.
Emma Stone plays ‘nobody’ high school student Olive. The movie is told as a flashback while Olive presents her story on her blog.
In order to get out of spending the weekend with her best friend’s hippy parents, Olive lies & tells her friend she has a date with a college guy. When Rhiannon (the best friend, played by the absolutely gorgeous Alyson Michalka) presses Olive for details, Olive lets her imagination run away & soon the story of how Olive lost her virginity to a college ‘man’ is all over school. Olive becomes popular overnight. A fame she at first enjoys, but soon regrets.
When gay Brandon (Dan Byrd) asks if she’d tell people THEY slept together she refuses. He offers payment & she slaps him. Brandon then breaks down & cries & Olive succumbs to his wishes. They set up an elaborate scene at a crowded party & pretend to have sex in the hostess’ bedroom.
Then the chubby kid wants her to pretend sleep with him. Then the nerdy kid from India. Then every shy geek in school lines up to get a ‘pretend’ date with easy Olive.
Since her favorite teacher, Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church) is having them read “The Scarlet Letter”; Olive adapts the premise of the novel & sews big red A’s onto all of her blouses.
The best part of the film, however, is also the most unrealistic – Olive’s parents, played by Stanley Tucci & Patricia Clarkson are the most understanding, fair, humorous and simply adorable parents ever presented onscreen. So I liked them, especially seeing two 'more than above average' actors in a rather low-rent film, but their characters weren’t ‘believable’...
Amanda Bynes (Didn’t she retire from acting?) plays Uber-Christian Marianne who successfully turns Olive’s celebrity into shunning.
It is hard for me to fathom how Lisa Kudrow keeps getting acting jobs – she is one of the worst actresses alive. As the school’s dim-witted student advisor she once again plays the same person she played on Friends. Come to think of it, is there anybody on that show who could play someone other than the character they played on TV? But Lisa is the worst - & I only say that because Matt LeBlanc has disappeared (thank goodness!)
The most mis-cast character however is Alyson Michalka as Rhiannon – She is the most beautiful girl in school & yet they have her playing an unknown who can’t seem to find a boyfriend (Hence, she spends weekends camping with her hippy parents) Alyson reminds me of a young Scarlet Johanson. Let’s just hope she develops better acting skills. If she does, I predict that this young cutie will become very well known in the near future. Heck, even if she doesn’t, she’s gorgeous - she’ll have a career in films off that alone!
But for acting chops, I’m liking Emma Stone more and more – Hey, anyone that was in ‘Zombieland’ gets an extra star from me.
So ‘Easy A’ isn’t great – it’s entertaining for a fluffy high school piece. It’s worth seeing, if just for Clarkson & Tucci’s performances as the perfect ‘mom & dad’ & Alyson’s Rhiannon rings like bell thru the night & wouldn’t you love to love her? . . .
Uh, that last line was for the male readers... oh, & lesbian Fleetwood Mac fans.