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Easy A, would have been your average “teenager movie” however, it stood out to be anything but! Well, no let me correct myself.  It technically is a teenager’s movie but every human being can get something fantastic out of this movie. Whether it is cheap laughs or the deep ethical issues Olive works through, I can pretty much guarantee you will enjoy this movie. I know I might get a lot of heat for saying this, but I see this movie being a classic in the future.  Throughout, Olive  mentions classics from different mediums the older crowd could appreciate. (i.e. sixteen candles, breakfast club, and a few other Eighties references.) The mirroring of Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” gives the movie a unique feeling especially if you have read the novel.

From the first minutes you will be giggling like a high school girl.  What starts off as a white lie to her friend, Rhi (Aly Michalka), leads sarcastic Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) on an emotional roller-coaster involving everything from gay men, assumed prostitution, and even a musical number (for no reason) – if you include the beginning montage where Olive jams to her grandmother’s corny music card and progressively gets into the song . . . which, incidentally, makes two delicious musical numbers. While on that subject, this was the first movie soundtrack I have left the theatre planning on buying. It includes a few great cover songs plus some refreshing music by new artists. (I have confirmed that it is available on itunes with special “album only” tracks.)  All the songs fit in well with poor Olive’s rumor fiasco and it’s accelerated velocity of “terminological inexactitude.”

The characters were all VERY lovable and/or “hateable”.  The Penderghast family was literally a family that is pretty much perfect. Mom (Patricia Clarkson) and Dad (personal fave Stanley Tucci) get along perfectly well and have raised relatively fine children. The two siblings, Olive and adopted Chip (Bryce Clyde Jenkins) get along well also. Through the entire film, the family experiences no turmoil what-so-ever. I am glad that “common family problems” and “issues regarding adoption” are absent. Amanda Bynes plays Marianne, a church-obsessed student hell-bent on getting the self-admitted whore, Olive expelled from school. Her character is hilarious, if only for the fact  I haven’t seen Amanda Bynes as an antagonist before. She was great! I really wish she was in the movie just a bit more.  There are some fantastic familiar faces also, with Lisa Kudrow and Thomas Haden Church playing Mr. and Mrs. Griffith. Mr. Griffith is Olive’s favorite teacher/English teacher and Mrs. Griffith is his wife and guidance counselor of Ojai High school in California. (Ojai as in ‘Oh-jay’). The plot brought all these characters together in ways even a psychic would have trouble guessing.

There are some notable scenes that I think landed this movie a guaranteed place in the pre-order “Buy on Blu-ray” list.  It is worth it on all accounts to catch the movie in the theater, because it is a treat to watch with your friends. If possible, and you are still in high school, I suggest you watch this with your posse and see what they get out of it, maybe see how they would react if in Olive’s situation.  True, it is an average coming of age movie with an unlikely progression. However, there are fresh jokes, witty writing, and a mountain of sarcasm that makes the movie so enjoyable, albeit it feels a bit short. I have zero percent negative feelings of the movie and I see this going down next to Ferris Bueller, in the coveted coming of age movie classics aisle.

[Editor's note:  SergD wanted to give this baby the six-star treatment, but I will have to see it first - Swift]

This entry was posted on Monday, September 20th, 2010 at 3:38 pm and is filed under 5, Film Reviews, Sergio Diaz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.