Friday, September 17, 2010 at 6:05AM Movie Review - 'Easy A'
| Easy A Starring Emma Stone |
As Emma Stone’s character Olive so aptly says, “A is for awesome”. Will Gluck delivers a fantastic one two combination of smart fun and great performances in this new teen comedy. Easy A is the first person narrative of Olive Penderghast as she takes us through the story of how a little white lie about losing her virginity lead to high school mayhem. Olive quickly becomes the school slut in an attempt to help the popularity of unnoticed or bullied high school guys.
Emma Stone is an absolute riot. Her rye wit, dry deliveries, and truly honest performance highlight the cleverness of writer Bert V. Royal’s punchy dialogue. She is easily one of the most talented young actresses currently gracing the screen.
Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci make a sweet and hilarious pair as Olive’s modern, slightly alternative parents. Tucci actually made the audience burst into laughter in an early scene where he turns to his adopted African American son and says, “Where are you from originally?” Written or improvised, that may have been the best writing and delivery of a comedic line I have seen in a very long time. Despite the fact that the parents’ banter occasionally takes some turns toward the extreme, Tucci and Clarkson retain their charm both individually and in their shared scenes.
Thomas Haden Church also delivers his fair share of laughs as Olive’s English teacher, Mr. Griffith, and the only regret Dan Byrd can have about his performance as a gay student looking for relief from social ridicule, is that he didn’t get enough screen time.
This movie also utilizes clever filmmaking with an emphasis on the fun. From the opening titles that the students are walking through on their way to class, to the speed-ramped visual illustration of the velocity of a pubescent rumor mill, the cinematography and editing keep pace with sharp, crafty dialogue.
The film only suffered weakness in a few small areas. Amanda Bynes’ character Marianne, the leader of the high school’s uber Christian group, is glaringly extreme next to Stone’s grounded realism. It seemed as if Bynes thought she was back in Hairspray and no one bothered to tell her that the song and dance was over. Unfortunately, Aly Michalka seemed to follow her lead to the campy camp with her role as Olive’s wanna-be slutty best friend. Gluck may have very well gotten five damn dirty apes from me had he pulled back these performances a bit to make them believable in the context of the story.
This should not be a deterrent from seeing the film, though. Easy A is like the person you fantasize about meeting that your friend’s tell you doesn’t exist: it’s smart, funny, has a great sense of humor, and is successful. Lets not forget about the fact that the cast isn’t too bad to look at either. So, the fact that it has its few did-they-really-just-do-that moments is pretty forgivable.
In sum, Easy A is a truly enjoyable time at the movies, and one of the few times in my recent past when I didn’t regret paying The Arclight $16.50 for my ticket.
Reader Comments (8)
holy cow, avatar @ the most expensive near me was liek 15, and i only sprung for that once
your description of hte movie makes it sound run of the mill barely better than average yet you mentioned almost giving it 5 'apes'/stars
please dont hand out 4/5 ratings like they are candy, it will lose you creditibility
also i noticed olivia mainly handles female type movies and always ranks them overly high, your bias is extremely saddening to the good name of this blog
/rant
....just conjecture really
WTF happened to this website? Colin leaves and it goes down the crapper. 4 dirty apes for this garbage movie?? unbelievable. never going to this site again. gonna move to where colin is and read his damn newspaper articles. cough rookies