Easy A Reviews
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
actually half of the movie similar with my life, but I don't know how to end it.
Super Reviewer
Olive:
'' Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80s movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80s movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life."
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Emma Stone has been in a number of films before this one, but it is here that she has given her true star making performance. She is wonderful as Olive. Apparently, director Will Gluck cast her because he didn't want someone who could become Olive, but instead, really was Olive. Based on what knowledge I have of Stone, that was a perfect casting decision, because I can't see anyone else in the role.
This modern take on The Sacrlet Letter is fun, witty, and really hilarious. It's not the most believable film, because a lot of what happens plays out fairly unrealistically, but then again, it is a satirical farce, so this isn't a problem...unless you can't suspend disbelief, and, if that's the case, you probably only watch documentaries anyway.
Moving on, this is a great film. It's fresh and smart, and the supporting cast is likewise as great as Stone. There's really a whole lot to like, and basically nothing to hate. It's not perfect, because I could just tell they were burdened by an enforced PG-13, but everyone makes the best of it anyways.
Give this one a shot. It's bound to end up being a classic...at least I hope so.
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
The hidden message here is spouted towards the film's end by the always wonderful Patricia Clarkson (and what a joy to see she and Stanley Tucci doing comedy together - both so smooth and natural): "you'll get through this the same way I did, with irrepressible humor!"
Clarkson delivers some real zingers in this. For example, when their adopted 10 year old proudly reports that he got a B+ on a spelling test, she deadpans "so what, everyone has spell check nowadays".
There's also a fun scene when a schoolmate comes to visit the film's heroine, Olive (a star making performance by Emma Stone). The boy asks "Is Olive here?" and Clarkson replies "hmm, well, we have a whole jar of Olives in the fridge, want some?" Then she yells upstairs to Olive "Honey, you have a gentleman caller" which prompts Olive to put on her best Scarlett O'Hara/ Blanch DuBois and drawl "oh thank goodness, I was prepared to spend my dowry on drugs and alcohol."
The story, in case you've been living with Osama Bin Laden until recently, involves a small lie that keeps getting bigger and bigger. Olive tells a persistent friend that she slept with a college student. This puts the heretofore anonymous Olive into the limelight as a trollop and fallen woman, hence the referral (nicely margined into the film) to Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter.
While some of the high school characters remain cliché there remains a certain freshness and a bit of depth, especially in the case of the film's main protagonist, the prissy, god squadder (in yet another solid portrayal, this one by Amanda Bynes).
There are countless references to other films, from paying homage to John Hughes, to poking fun at the recent Demi Moore adaptation of The Scarlet Letter, to a couple of hilarious references to Huck Finn (Olive at one point says that having a young boy run away with a large black man doesn't even happen in the movies - which of course is exactly what happens in THIS movie... so Olive throws out "my apologies to Mister Twain"). The film then goes a step further, late in the film showing the gay boy with his black boyfriend, watching the old black and white Huck Finn film. Huck and the "large black man" are on the raft and Huck says, "You must be tired, let me steer", to which the man replies "Thankee no, Mr. Huck, I's likes to steer"... which I'm sure was innocent enough at the time, but in this context, with two gays watching is hilariously suggestive.
In this era of gross out humor, this script is a marvel, being funny with intelligence and panache, its take on modern teens all the more real because the film doesn't take itself seriously in its delivery.
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Great cast...Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow, Stanley Tucci, they're all hilarious in this film. I love the references to the old 80's teen movies, but I also love that it was able to keep it's originality, too.
Good movie, I recommend it!
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
The script's wit is a little unsettling with the plot, I can't figure out how Stone's sensible character manages to find herself in the series of events presented.
Still, it's a coherent story about identity in what is one of the most trying social systems of our culture (lolHighschool). The films intelligent banter and cast of fun supporting characters will make this quite a smooth ride.
