Easy A reminds me of the scene in the cinematic classic Clueless where Cher goes to all her teachers and argues her way to straight ‘A’s. So much of the movie was generic high school fanatasy (wait, your school didn’t have terracotta tiles either?) but I kept thinking about it long after Pocket Full of Sunshine finally got out of my head. It’s as if Emma Stone‘s narration continued after the credits, whispering in my ear: “You must like it! We openly deal with teenage sexuality you pinko!”
Olive (Emma Stone) accidentally starts a rumour that she lost her virginity. Suddenly, the whole student body takes an interest in her, especially those who have less luck with the ladies. These chaps pay her to say they’ve had a tryst, thus boosting their popularity. This causes some issues, the issues escalate, the issues are resolved, Olive gets a date.
Call me a dreamer, but I had hoped Easy A would take the sleeping around double standard to task. It’s acknowledged, but the message of sleeping around becomes diluted with the issue of virginity. As the film is wrapping it up (pun, safe sex!), Olive rightly tells us it’s none of our business when she’ll lose her virginity. But Olive, it’s also none of our business if you want to happily and safely hook up with half the school!
In the end, the institution of the church gets it the hardest rather than sexism. The church is stuck up (embodied by the chastity ring types, lead by Amanda Bynes), hypocritical (Volchok Cam Gigandet, a member of the aforementioned group gets chlamydiae) and unresponsive when Olive asks for help (she pours out her problems in confession only to find there’s no one on the other side of that mysterious mesh – an ever so subtle ‘lost touch with the youth’ metaphor).
But if you can get beyond this and just watch it as a comedy it’s worth the time. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson play the perfect West coast liberal fantasy parents with humour and tender chemistry. Emma Stone’s range of goofy facial expressions and sounds adds to the snappy script. And Volchok Cam Gaignet reprises his role as the bad boy dude who’s way too old for high school.
Easy A is a fun, light, teen comedy and perfect for a date night rental. But what you do after the movie ends is none of our business.
Easy A is on DVD and Blu-ray December 21, 2010
Special Features:
The gag reel is predictably amusing but over all the special features aren’t overwhelming.
Stats:
Run Time: 92
CC: Y
Color: Color
Screen Format(s): Anamorphic
Language(s): English 5.1, English (US) 5.1, French (Canadian) 5.1
Subtitles(s): English (US), French (Parisian), Spanish (Latin Am)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85
Discs: 1
Kiva Reardon is a freelance film reviewer and blogger based in Toronto.
