Review: EASY A

rating: 4

The old adage that the more you talk about having sex, the less you are actually getting any, makes for a nice coda for 'Easy A', a very agreeable and witty high-school comedy that continues a semi-recent revival (alongside 'Juno' and 'Superbad') of a genre that enjoyed it's heyday in the 1980's. It's a movie about the harsh nature of gossip, rumour and hear'say and and how public image so often shapes and defines who we perceive ourselves to be. It's also the movie that undeniably births a movie star in Emma Stone, a distinct and unconventional young actress who carries the whole thing on her 21 year old shoulders. She is a likeable talent that has a charming and watchable persona, and you are going to see an awful lot of her as this decade progresses. On this evidence alone, it's hardly surprising she is already set for a major love interest role in Sony's new 'Spider-Man' reboot. You see early Julia Roberts here, at an age two years younger than she made 'Pretty Woman'. Stone is Olive Penderghast, a smart girl who floats through high school picking up Easy A grades without any real drama until she, tired of being worn down by her best friend over her lack of a love life and general disinterest from the opposite sex, tells a little white lie that she spent the weekend with a boy from another college. What's the worst that can happen? They might imagine a little kissing but nobody will ever question her about it as they don't know him. Of course, the lie escalates, and Olive is goaded into agreeing with her friend's false assumption that they had sex over the weekend. Better think that than admit what she was really doing (hanging around her bedroom on a weekend, alone) and surely half of the high-school are practicing sex anyway? Well, apparently not in this high school. Marianne (Amanda Bynes), a devout Christian who lives by the bible and is offended by those who don't follow God's mysterious ways, takes the lie public and it builds to such a frenzy that the students believe her to be the Sharon Stone of her school. But that's not entirely a negative thing, at least she is noticed now. Boys want her, girls are clearly enviousness of her confident sexuality and well, at least it's a reputation. When her gay best friend Brandon (Dan Byrd) gets the idea that pretending to sleep with Olive at a house party will stop the 'homo bullying' he has been subject to, Olive agrees. It works but also brings attention others struggling to fit in at school (the overweight, the shy, the nerdy) who likewise want their reputation heightened, and Olive is at once guilted into helping out (she's a kind soul at heart) and can also make some money out of it as the men are willing to pay for the lie. Is it prostitution if you are being paid to say you had sex? 'Easy A' did raise two niggling questions with me; A) How does a girl so self-aware, confident and as gorgeous as Emma Stone really become the bumbling teenager she is, and do we really believe that no boys would be attracted to her? B) Do the parents in 'Easy A' and 'Juno' really exist? The equanimity type, who are so accepting of their daughter's predicament, they make light relief of it. They are played with effortless abandon by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, who are clearly relishing the freedom they were given. Whether director Will Gluck ('Fired Up') or screenwriter Burt V. Royal were influenced by the tragic death of John Hughes whilst shooting his movie (I haven't checked dates) I can't say, but a nice tribute of montages at the end to the essential coming-of-age films like 'Sixteen Candles' and 'The Breakfast Club' show, along with the obvious nods to this being a re-working of the classic literary novel 'The Scarlett Letter' - prove that they the confidence to shove in front of our faces what the film is. I say he passed, with flying colours. 'Easy A' is a smart observational comedy that is self-aware enough to know the conventions of it's genre and doesn't shy away from referencing what came before, in a breezy and charming way that elevates the material. There's a slight problematic second act sub-plot involving a teacher (Thomas Haden Church) and the guidance councillor (Lisa Kudrow) but it's well acted, as is the one cameo scene of Malcolm McDowell as a cruel principal who will kick out an A-grade student for saying the word twat. Or did she twot, that confused me? 'Easy A' is on general release in the U.K. now.