A quick-witted teen comedy that revolves around sex (or at least the idea of it) without being nearly as raunchy as its multiplex peers, "Easy A" relies on the ample charisma of Emma Stone, an actress who has brought spark to films both great ("Superbad") and not-so ("The Rocker").
If there's any justice in Hollywood (there isn't, but let's never stop hoping), this leading role should elevate Stone from the ranks of the perpetual sexy-smart supporting character. She has at least five movies in various stages of production; with luck, one will prove she has dramatic chops to match her snark.
A bit like a "Clueless" that doesn't hide its intellect behind a veil of vapid consumerism, "Easy A" takes liberties with the reality of high school in order to suit its fablelike comedy of manners. In this case, we're asked to believe that an entire campus could be scandalized to hear that an attractive girl has had sex.
Far-fetched as that might be, the movie runs with it, playing off "The Scarlet Letter" only a bit less effectively than "Clueless" did with Jane Austen. Stone plays an anonymous girl who gains infamy when, for misguided reasons, she allows her best friend to think she has lost her virginity.
Once her reputation is tarnished, Stone goes with the flow. She pretends to have sex with a male classmate who is gay and wants to avoid the bullying that comes with that, and soon a flood of misfits are paying for her faux-deflowering services. Unlikely? Maybe. But how many kids have reacted to an unfair dilemma by digging further into it when getting out seemed impossible?
In her YouTube "confession," Stone laments that her life is not a John Hughes movie. The truth is, hers is better. Unlike Hughes's world, where most adults are clueless or antagonistic, "Easy A" is populated with too-good-to-be-true grown-ups - from jocular, trusting parents (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson) to a teacher (Thomas Haden Church) whose stern deadpan is an ongoing in-joke with his favorite students.
Those adult actors are fun to watch - Church, especially - but their roles do suggest that "Easy A" (written and directed by men, unlike Amy Heckerling's "Clueless") wants to pander to grown men as much as to high-school romantics.
'Easy A'
Our grade: B+
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 92 min
MPAA rating: PG-13
Release Date: Sep 17, 2010
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
