Emma Stone's latest film, Easy A, is hands down the best teen comedy since Tina Fey's Mean Girls and John Hughes. Now, I really should say that it is the best teen HIGH SCHOOL comedy, because teen is too big of a genre. There was Kick-Ass, and Scott Pilgrim which were also very good, but I'm talking about your run-of-the-mill High School teen-bitch fest so in that field Bert V. Royal emerges as this year's victor.
The film revolves around Olive (Stone) and how her life starts to become a pile of lies, thicker that Katie Price's face. To avoids spending a weekend camping with her BFF, she makes up a lie about an imaginary boy and a romantic weekend, which in reality she spent singing Natasha Bedingfield's Pocketful Of Sunshine in her room and in the shower. Of course as high school goes, the BFF assumes she cashed in her V-card, which was overheard by the school resident puritanical Queen Bitch Marianne (Amanda Bynes). Soon enough the rumours pile up and she gains a reputation as the token skank of her school, and by the end she finds that it has gone out of control and that the only exit strategy she had was coming clean, or else she would have lived a life full of gift cards (from Home Depot, Auto Heaven, and the local foreign film theatre) in exchange for lies that gave boys more cred for 'hooking-up' with the hottest trollop in the school.
As far as high school movies go, Easy A owes a lot of its content from past teen films because as you can see it's hardly the most original plotline. However what makes it really good is that it is still a very refreshing take on the genre. The content, which is basically a tongue-in-cheek enlightenment on abstinence and peer pressure is a stroke of genius because it is very relatable. Plus, I think Royal hit the nail in the head with his very realistic portrayal of the cruel nature of gossip (ok, so maybe not in that proportion but I'm sure somewhere out there it happens. It did at my school!), high school politics, sex and puritanical ostracism (for whatever reason). If you didn't do it, just say you did and you save face. That's the name of the game right? It doesn't just happen in high school you know, so I think what's great about the Easy A is that, not only does it offer a cautionary tale on contracting STD's and how easy it is to blame the nearest skank, but also that as much as possible, just don't lie. I'm sure everyone would deny it, but we all have had at least one instance where we had to lie through our teeth about something to make it really interesting. It's so real no? Don't you lie to me!
Emma delivers a precociously coquettish performance as an overnight sex symbol to her hormone-crazed peers, a perfect combination of the newly-plasticised Cady Heron and Molly Ringwald's Sam Baker. I feel like until now, she has been underrated as an actress, but she definitely serves up a big fat I-told-you-so to her critics with her performance in Easy A. At times I almost forget that her lies are all based on her pathos for these bullied boys or the evil adulterous guidance counsellor, because she enjoys the ride (and the gratification of being benevolent) as much as we do. I think the best part of her craft is that she has that slightly nerdy awkwardness to her demeanor, which is I think just her nature by the way, but it works perfectly because it's an innate reminder that she couldn't be any further away from what people perceived her as. She's definitely one to watch for sure, but I have thought that ever since I saw her on House Bunny anyway, so here's to more films Emma! Also, congratulations on the Golden Globe nomination. You totally deserve it.
So what else did I love about the movie? Hmm...
It was great seeing Amanda Bynes acting again. I've forgotten how much I enjoyed her work as a comedienne in the past, and this film is the perfect reminder of how talented she really is. Her performance as Marianne definitely trumps Quinn Fabray and Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore in Saved!) as our resident religiously fanatic moralist. It was fabulous! She puts in the right amount of satire in a very straightlaced role that was done to perfection, which makes her less abrasive and more charmingly tart. Plus the dynamic between the her and Stone was just precious.
Lisa Kudrow plays the adulterous guidance counsellor who gives Amanda's less-than-holy boyfriend (Cam Gigandet) chlamydia whom he blames on Emma's Olive. Once again, Kudrow exhibits her best asset which is her comedy. She is acerbically infectious in the film, especially with such a small supporting role. She made it work! She wasn't Phoebe Buffay, but she was more or less like Valerie Cherish mixed with Jayma Mays' Emma Pillsbury. Stanley Tucci as Emma's dad was also great, but his performance was somewhat similar to the other characters in his repertoire. The only downer for me was Penn Badgley's character Todd who ends up being Emma's knight in shining armour. I'm really just not impressed by him as an actor. Personally watching him in the film was like watching Dan Humphrey's lukewarm chivalry all over again. Bleh. Maybe I just don't like him?
Rating: ****
Enjoy watching!
xoxo
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