Rating:  

Olive Bridge Entertainment and Screen Gems.

Written By: Bert V. Royal

As I continue on this path of writing, blogging, and sharing my thoughts on movies, I have learned, for my sensibilities, to avoid marketing and trailering in large part. The latest example? “Easy A”, a film that presents as just another formulaic and mindless entry in the teen comedy genre. In reality however, “Easy A” is a finely tuned, well-written, and much more intelligent film than I or perhaps many others could have anticipated.

In large part, the movie soars on the arrival of the perfectly cast Emma Stone. Stone stars as Olive Penderghast, a clean-cut and largely ignored high school student, who tells her best friend, Rhiannon (Aly Michalka), that over the previous weekend she lost her virginity to a boy named George. Olive’s disclosure is designed to stop Rhiannon’s pushing to have Olive confess something to her and Olive certainly delivers shocking news. Overhearing a conversation between them is Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the school’s de facto religious leader, who begins informing anyone and everyone that Olive has lost “it”. Dumbfounded with the reactions the boys and girls start leveling upon her, Olive initially dismisses the attention until she agrees to help her close friend, Brandon (Dan Byrd), with a rather unique request.

Brandon is gay and desperately trying to remain in the closet. Subjected to constant abuse and ridicule, and upon learning that Olive lied to Rhiannon about her tryst, Brandon desperately asks Olive to say that she slept with him. Begrudgingly Olive agrees and she sees little harm in doing so. Eventually, classmates come out of the woodwork and offer gift cards and money for Olive to “help” their reps on campus. Soon, Olive is branded as the school tramp which affords her every look from every male student and the scorn and hatred of every girl in equal measure. Olive draws connections to Hester Prynne, the main character from the classic novel “The Scarlet Letter”, which Olive is reading in her English class. For awhile, Olive embraces her newfound status, even incorporating the iconic “A” from the novel’s classic storyline into her clothing. The fun and rebellious attitude only survives for so long until the walls begin to crumble around Olive’s fantasy world. One simple lie to a friend avalanches into a situation wildly out of control and Olive soon realizes that she must face the consequences alone.

To reiterate from earlier, Emma Stone is a star-in-the-making and “Easy A” is her breakthrough role. Actors come along and may nail a character in a given movie, or give a good performance here and there, but Stone’s turn as Olive is fantastic. Impossible not to like, Stone gives us a lead character who is smart, genuinely a good person, and until things get out of hand, completely comfortable in her own skin. Betrayed by a sense of naivete that all of us have experienced in our teenage years, Olive has moved from being camouflaged within the school of fish, to standing alone as the hunted and targeted from friends, students, and even faculty. Stone captures the emotional transitions tremendously and delivers the right touch of vulnerability, internal toughness, and sarcasm Olive needs to survive.

A movie such as “Easy A” could go down in flames, but make no mistake…first time screenwriter, Bert V. Royal, has delivered a tremendously smart, topical, and inward-analyzing script. Those who dismiss this film’s premise as being about a girl who lies about losing her virginity, or classify this as another “chick flick”, do themselves and this film a disservice. Director Will Gluck (“Fired Up!”) moves the film along at a very brisk 90-minute pace, analogous to the snowball out of control that Olive finds herself rollingly in. Gluck draws good supporting performances from Bynes, Michalka, and Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson who, as Olive’s parents, are without question the most engaging and “with it” parents ever placed on screen. Even with their whipsmart and comical stilted dialogue, Tucci and Clarkson have such great timing and delivery that they nearly steal the movie out from under the impressive Stone.

The film takes some risks in satirizing organized religion, although the film touches on morality, redemption, and honesty in very humanizing ways. The film also deals with many more grown up topics and dialogue than most PG-13 films ever dare to come close to. However, I think the willingness to live on the edge and speak more realistically and honestly helps the movie turn the corner in its likability and charm. At its worst, the film sets up some wacky contrivances and Olive’s dinner date with a potential suitor ends in a most predictable and obvious way. Yet, “Easy A” affords one the opportunity to relate back to one’s own personal social embarrassments and the fear we all share of being branded an outcast. In final form, “Easy A” is more about how we view people, how we classify them and judge them, and what we gain and/or benefit from it. The truth is we gain nothing, a lesson that many of the characters in “Easy A” come to terms with in several distinctive ways.

It overstates it in large part to classify “Easy A” as a deep and powerful “message movie.” The film is a comedy first and foremost and never tries to leave those confines. What you will find with “Easy A” is a movie that has an edge, wit, and charm from start to finish, which is simply refreshing in today’s movie landscape.

Should I See It?

A witty teenage comedy, with a nod and a wink to the 1980s films of the genre, “Easy A” is fun, insightful, and I imagine will be an easy watch over and over again.

Emma Stone may have found her star turn with this movie. Great in supporting work previously in “Zombieland” and “The House Bunny”, Stone takes the lead role, owns it completely, and may define a career.

A teenpic that tackles issues of religion, judgment, morality, honesty, and staying true to who you are, “Easy A” is not the wacky dismissible comedy it is marketed as. While often funny, there are intriguing ideas dealt with here and it serves as a better and richer movie because of it.

Parents, be mindful that this PG-13 is a bold one. Lots of frank dialogue and discussion may introduce concepts and ideas that those closer to 13 may be sheltered from. If you are connected to what your kids view and watch, your conversations will be interesting for sure.

I envision some will find the characters as stock caricatures and Olive’s parents just too loving and too progressive to be believed.

Although I would argue that the film has a supportive stance on religious principles, some satirical scenes dealing with Catholicism and evangelical Christianity may not play well with those who find such humor as blasphemous and untouchable.