Parallels will surely be drawn between “Easy A” and 2004’s “Mean Girls.” They are both centered around schoolyard gossip, and the potential damage it can create (both even have a redhead starring, as well). Emma Stone, fortunately, is much better in the starring role than Lindsay Lohan.
Stone stars as Olive, a mild mannered straight-A student who doesn’t particularly stand out. That is, until the resident religious zealot, Marianne (Amanda Bynes), overhears Olive relay a false tale of her lost virginity. The story then spreads like wildfire, Marianne at the helm. While at first bothered by her newfound notoriety, Olive decides to use it to her advantage, riding the rumor to popularity.
When her peers start to come asking for her assistance, she agrees to make the school believe she has slept with them (or committed other various risque acts). After a time, Olive begins to regret the hole she has dug herself. Wanting to once again return to her normal life, she seeks to clear her name; unfortunately, Marianne and those she has ‘helped’ stand in her way.
Before this can happen, various high school antics ensue, many that have been seen before in every teen movie ever released. Nevertheless, “Easy A” keeps itself from feeling overdone. Emma Stone is a breath of fresh air as the believable teenager just trying to make it through high school, despite the bad rap her methods receive. She does a fantastic job in her first leading role, and gives this protagonist a face to which we can all relate.
Amanda Bynes is effectively annoying as the pious Marianne, and believable as the judgemental christian that feels she has a calling from God to ruin all the deviants in the school. She tends to get a little grating, however, and makes you realize it wouldn’t have been all that bad had she retired after all. The adult roles are well played by Thomas Hayden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson.
Also is Kudrow’s “Bandslam” co-star, Aly Michalka. She seems to have officially shrugged her Disney persona, playing a girl who has been wearing a facade of promiscuity for some time before Olive. Penn Bagley of “Gossip Girl” fame plays the immediately obvious love interest, which inspires Olive that it’s time to clean up her reputation.
Many of the jokes are saturated with sexual innuendo, and the humor ends up feeling a little too subdued. The filmmakers obviously wanted to reach a wider audience with the box office-friendly PG-13 rating, but this was certainly an R film at heart. Fortunately there are a handful of clever, well written jokes that do work. Tucci is hilariously deadpan as Olive’s none-too-concerned father and Church is great as the sarcastic, well-read teacher that actually cares about his students.
While Tina Fey’s earlier film focused on the blurred lines between the gossipers and the gossipees, “Easy A” is really more about people doing whatever it takes to be fit in. Sometimes the story gets a little hard to believe, but at the end of the day it still tells a nice, genuine story of struggling with high school popularity.
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Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements involving teen sexuality, language and some drug material.
Directed by: Will Glick
Written by: Bert V. Royal
Starring: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Bagley, Thomas Hayden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Aly Michalka
