Newly aware of the power, speed, and unreliability of gossip, Olive reluctantly lets a gay classmate Dan Byrd, "Cougar Town" talk her into adding to the chatter by publicly staging a fake tryst at a party to spare him years of homophobism. Olive sees the parallels between her setting and the puritanical society of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter , which she is reading in her English class with her favorite teacher Thomas Haden Church.
She embraces the rumors, secretly accepting gift cards from the few outcasts who know the truth in exchange for corroborating their fictional tales of sexual escapades. She even starts dressing the part of the "skank" in which the student body has cast her, complete with a shameless red "A" paying homage to Hester Prynne. We know early on that there are consequences to Olive's fabricated ill repute, because the movie is framed as a kind of webcam confessional.
Fortunately, there isn't the stench of familiarity or lessons learned in conventional ways. We're never sure how this will turn out, even if we suspect and hope that Olive might clear her name and find a decent guy to build a real relationship with. Easy A does get a bit muddled with plot turns, throwing a BFF feud, a case of Chlamydia, a student-teacher affair, religious exploration, and an unpleasant date our way. None of this seems to matter as much as the good will generated by the film's winning comic atmosphere.
This is a movie that will appeal not just to today's teenagers but nearly anyone who was a teenager in the past thirty years. Recognizing that the high school years never mean as much until after they're gone, the film injects the wisdom and perspective of life experience. To that end, everyone portraying a high school student is in their twenties. We also find voices of varying reason in grown-up characters like Church's teacher, Lisa Kudrow's guidance counselor, and Olive's affable parents played by Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci.
First-time screenwriter Bert V. Royal a former TV casting associate is in his early thirties and as a result, he brings a warm appreciation for the high school movie's apparent heyday, the s.
He has Olive sing the praises of the personalities and actions from beloved entries of teenages past, complete with clips and tributes of Say Anything It's a move which all who grew up with those films and that includes today's youths as cultured as Olive believably is will admire and then become more willing to forgive Easy A 's rare off-key note.
And there are off-key notes the film's negative portrayal of Christianity, for example but none that pose a real threat to your enjoyment.
Like those fine, fondly-recalled high school movies of the s, Easy A is sweet, funny, and quite hard to dislike.
Even critics, a group not naturally sympathetic to new teen movies, praised Easy A almost universally. Stone's nod is almost certain to be the biggest piece of recognition Easy A receives because no matter how much audiences enjoy it, a mainstream PG high school comedy is not destined to compete for awards against more dramatic, traditional, artful and technical fare.
But -- you're probably thinking right now -- who cares about awards and all the politics that go into them? And while I must admit that I really, really do, I also consider it a detriment to the powers that be that a smart, enjoyable movie like this doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell to figure into any major year-end discussions simply because it doesn't fit the industry's standards.
Not that I'd call it good enough to deserve a major award or nomination, but it is too good to be immediately dismissed. And that is a thought that probably won't be on too many of the minds of those who give or receive Easy A as a Christmas present, for which it opportunely debuts on DVD and Blu-ray this week, just three months after opening in theaters.
Clean, sharp, and vibrant, Sony's 1. The Last Duel Raging Fire 7. Halloween Kills Witch Hunt 8. Old Henry Zone 9. Last Night in Soho A Christmas Gift from Bob Jungle Cruise Respect Clifford the Big Red Dog The Mitchells vs. Nine Days Come True. DVDs by Genre. Disclaimer Privacy Policy Copyright c www. Movie Poster. Rating: PG imdb: 7.
We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Doctor Strange imdb: 7. Spider-Man: Homecoming imdb: 7.
0コメント