Easy A (2010)
Stars:
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PLOT: This movie is about Olive, a late-blooming young lady who until recently spends her weekends studying, painting her toe nails and hanging out with her exceptionally cool and laid back California parents (this takes place in Ojai).
Then, in an effort to shame a friend who is preoccupied with sex, she lies about an affair Olive had one weekend. This is overheard by an uber-Christian girl who was hiding in the bathroom. Everyone is alarmed by how fast word gets around about this non-sexual weekend being a real romp. Then a gay "friend" of hers asks her to help him spread a rumor that they got together to boost his reputation. This basically opens up Pandora's box at her medium-sized high school in Ojai.
At the beginning of the year Olive was transparent to all but a dozen at the high school, and for the first time she is NOTICED, but she wonders if it's for the right reasons.
WHAT PEOPLE MIGHT LIKE:
Emma Stone is special. She is able to single-handedly light up this movie with her energy and enthusiasm and humor. And if you watch the outtakes the way I did, you can see she was having an absolute blast filming this. Much of the movie is her recounting this odd journey to popularity through video blog to set things straight. Even her acting on the video blog is good.
Also, the supporting cast, which includes all star heavy weights such as Thomas Hayden Church from Wings and Sideways, Lisa Kudrow from Friends, Stanley Tucci from many movies, Malcom McDowell from Clockwork Orange, Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen who plays a hilariously unhelpful priest, Patricia Clarkson who in this gets a "coolest and most understanding Mom in the world" trophy.
Worth noting is Amanda Bynes who leads these teenage uber Christians who pass out pamphlets on campus and play Jesus songs on guitar. I personally didn't have them at my school, what fun!
Also worth noting were Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson's working together and playing Olive's super-cool parents. Their scenes together were so warm and touching, it was a great part of this movie. It was nice to know that Olive had an amazing support system as she went through these tribulations that could break lesser people.
WHAT PEOPLE MIGHT NOT LIKE
This is movie about young people's approach to sex and sexuality. It also underscores how horrible high school and how a public high school, almost with trying, can keep people down because of the weird social microcosm it creates. It might bring back bad memories.
In this movie, Emma Stone is a rising star, and one begins to think she will find a way to get out of all of this. In life, Stone is a rapidly rising star with her unconventional looks, subtle sex appeal, seal of approval from comedy greats such as Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray and a lot of screenplays that people want her to read.
My hope is that Stone, just like Olive, will always find the high road, and something tells me she will.