Movie Review: Easy A

What could very easily turn into your stereotypical high school comedy, didn't. Kind of like Mean Girls meets Risky Business, Easy A is about a high school senior who seeks to take control of the rumor mill surrounding her sexual exploits (that are actually all lies).

Emma Stone plays Olive, your typical high school student just trying to get by until her friend falsely assumes she lost her virginity to a guy that doesn't even exist. The rumor is overheard by Jesus-freak Marianne (Amanda Bynes), and is subsequently spread all over school. Within minutes Olive becomes a social pariah and begins to identify with Hester Pryne, the heroine of the book The Scarlet Letter. As Olive plays up her new-found notoriety by continuing to spread false rumors about her sleeping with a slew of guys in the high school, she transforms her personality and wardrobe to play the part of school slut.

Then, when the dust settles and she has no friends, and all the guys (except one), treat her like the high school equivalent of a prostitute she realizes that she has to do something about the image she created of herself and get her real self back.

Easy A references its 80s teen flick predecessors in a playful way that reminded me of what it was like to be a teenager, struggling with a machine you hate but desperately want to be a part of. You identify with Olive when she says she wishes she had the 80s movie ending where the guy of her dreams lets her know he cares and they ride off into the sunset together. And you feel bad for her as she's tormented and used by her peers. You wonder, what's more important? Being popular for a bad reason, or being hidden among the masses, but at least you're yourself?

But this movie is far from being a serious look at the evils of high school; it's a comedic satire so there's plenty of laughs. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are hilarious as Olive's wacky parents and Amanda Bynes is too as the Jesus-freak. My mother, Nick, and I watched this together and the three of us laughed almost constantly. Definitely highly recommended for anyone who went to high school, and those who are suffering through it as we speak.