Easy A (PG-13)
Mike:
Scott:
Scott: Tonight we are reviewing Easy A
, a kind of update on The Scarlet Letter, but with modern interpretations and electronics.
What did you think Mike?
Mike: I really liked this film. I was afraid it would be another dumb or raunchy teen comedy, but this one is funny and has brains.
What did you think?
Scott: I agree, it wasn't your typical high school movie.
Just having a relationship to The Scarlet Letter is saying something.
Mike: Plus the story and the comedy were well written.
Scott: The story is really well written, you are correct.
The movie is about Olive, played by the up and coming Emma Stone. She is a high school girl that lives under the radar until one day, when she steps out of normal routine and gives a boy a hand … or two.
She quickly becomes despised in the school by her friends and foes alike.
Mike: Well, despised and popular all at the same time.
Scott: Yes, by different groups for the same reason.
Mike: A little white lie grows into something that soon gets out of her control.
Scott: Yes, some lies have legs, and this one has big, long ones.
There were several parts to the movie that stood out. One was seeing texting's place in the grape vine.
It was a really neat camera trick to see how the rumors circulate
Mike: And there were some of the most interesting credits that I've seen.
Scott: Yes, in the beginning and end of the movie.
Mike: I also like that this movie has a fondness for John Hughes teen comedies.
In the movie they talk about them, show clips from them and at times they actually borrow scenes from them.
Scott: John Hughes was a genius.
Mike: I was a big fan as well.
I love Ferris Buehler, Sixteen Candles, and Breakfast Club among others.
A number of big actors got their starts in Hughes movies and I predict big things for Emma Stone.
Scott: Another thing that stood out to me as being completely false was how cool her parents were. The fact is, parents of teenagers aren't cool. They simply can't be, they have teenagers. Lindesy Lohan's parents in Mean Girls are similar to the parents here. Fun on screen, but that's cause that's the only place where they exist.
Mike: Or if you actually grew up with hippies as parents...
Scott: I don't think there are any hippies around these parts...
Actually, teenagers now wouldn't have parents that were hippies. The late 60's and 70's are the birth years of today's teenagers.
Mike: Speaking of the parents, I was pretty surprised at the caliber of the cast.
Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are usually in movies that are Oscar contenders.
Scott: Some pretty big names in it.
Malcolm McDowell surprised me the most as Principal Gibbons.
Mike: Yes, a small part, but surprising.
Thomas Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow were a nice addition as well.
Scott: I liked Thomas Haden Church as Olive's English teacher Mr. Griffith
I just like him. Ever since Wings, he's been one of my favorite actors. Maybe it's cause he has a cool name.
Mike: He was funny. Like Lowell from Wings, but with a brain.
Scott: I wasn't familiar with Penn Badgley who played Mr. Cool, Woodchuck Todd. He seemed a little too mature for high school.
Mike: I also love that Olive's best friend's name is ...Rhiannon. Talk about hippie parents.
Scott: Dan Byrd from Cougar Town was great as the gay teenager Brandon and Amanda Bynes knows how to be a religious zealot high school student. That’s almost like an odd name for a movie, “How to be a teenage religious zealot in high school”
Mike: That's why Brandon was so familiar. I couldn't place him.
Being old, the other thing I didn't know until I did a little research is that Alyson Michalka, the aforementioned Rhiannon, was Aly of Aly and AJ.
This would be important to teenagers who grew up on the Disney channel.
Scott: Yeah, I read that, but have no clue who that is.
Mike: You have no clue, because you are old too.
Scott: So I've been told.
I really liked the story and script. This is writer Bert V. Royal's first movie. I would like to see him do a few more.
I liked how they didn't dumb Olive down. She was using $5 words throughout the movie. She was written smart, but a high school brainy kind of smart, not in a college student in high school kind of way.
Mike: I also like that Olive is together enough to deal with her predicament without having to run to the adults for help or by doing things that teens can't really do.
Scott: Yes and she used technology to help her with her problem. That and a little show that got some attention.
Mike: Yes, but all things that anyone could actually do. Quite realistic.
Director Will Gluck has brought John Hughes into the 21st Century.
Scott: Yes he has, and we thank him and Royal for that.
Mike: I'm not really familiar with his work, but it makes me think that I may have to rent Fired Up.
I also want to mention that I see a nod to another teen comedy, Risky Business in here.
Risky Business is my favorite teen comedy. Between the Raybans and the good girl/boy goes wild angle I can see it.
I have enjoyed Emma Stone in the past, in things like Superbad and The House Bunny, but this proves that she can really carry a movie.
Scott: I liked her best in Zombieland.
Mike: I think she will be the new Lindsay Lohan, but without all the baggage that goes with her.
Scott: How do you rate this?
Mike: I give this movie 4 stars overall and 4 for a teen comedy. I think adults and teens will love this.
What about you?
Scott: I really liked this one. I give it a 4 overall and a 4 for teen movie. If only more teen movies were like this one.
