“Easy A” is the story of Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) and her attempt to clear the air on a little white lie that spirals out of control.
The film opens with Penderghast and her friend Rhiannon Abernathy (Alyson Michalka) talking about the weekend.
When Abernathy pushes Penderghast to go camping with her and her nudist parents, Penderghast blurts out that she has a date with an older college student and that she won’t be able to go camping.
Penderghast doesn’t really have a date. Instead, she stays home the entire weekend.
On Monday at school, Abernathy asks Penderghast about her date.
Abernathy deduces that Penderghast has finally lost her virginity and congratulates her in the girl’s bathroom.
Penderghast, reluctant at first, goes along with her friend’s misconception.
The revelation that Penderghast has lost her virginity spreads like wildfire among her high school, quickly painting her as the school slut.
After the rumors have spread, a strong-minded Christian girl, Marianne (portrayed by Amanda Bynes), makes a comment in class about how Penderghast should wear a red ‘A’ on her chest like Hester Prynne from “The Scarlet Letter”- The ‘A’ standing for adultery in the novel.
Without spoiling too much, the plot escalates from there. Penderghast takes on the persona of a full-fledged floozy.
In exchange for gift cards to local retailers, Penderghast lets less popular boys at her school tell their friends that they had sex with her.
She even lets her barely-in-the-closet gay male friend say they did it, so that he can try to avoid ridicule from his peers.
The plot in “Easy A” moves fast and touches on a lot of subjects, from dastardly high school rumors, to student/teacher relationships, to date rape.
The film even touches on the pros and cons of having carefree parents.
Now that might seem kind of heavy for a PG-13 movie, but Easy A is a comedy before anything else.
Emma Stone, seen last year in “Zombieland,” is a great actress and I would like to see more of her.
She reminds me of a prettier and more talented Lindsey Lohan, which brings me to my next point.
“Easy A” and the 2004 film, “Mean Girls”, have a few similarities.
Both Lohan and Stone play the role of nice high school girls who are turned bad by the pressures of their high school peers.
In addition, both films have something to say about how petty and fake teenagers can be.
In almost the same way, each protagonist eventually realizes the consequences of their actions and have to work backwards to get things back to way
they’re supposed to be.
I enjoyed “Easy A” more than “Mean Girls” though. “Easy A” is a more raw approach to the subject matter, and feels more realistic than the exaggerated events in Lohan’s film.
“Easy A” is a great film but I do have one nitpicky complaint. Penderghast’s main love interest, Todd, doesn’t approach Penderghast until she’s become known to everyone as the school prostitute.
Through some clever script writing, Todd tells Penderghast that she’s just “overanalyzing” that fact.
Aside from a minor blemish, “Easy A” is totally worth seeing while it’s still at the main theater.
Tags 2010-10-14 2010-2011 R. J. Yancey
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