Easy A

Easy A is one of the more memorable teen movies of late, with its incredibly witty quotes, filled with references from literature, films and even facebook. The film is centred on protagonist Olive, played by the sweet Emma Stone and her tough crusade of dealing with the rumours of her sexual exploits, more specifically her fake sexual exploits. You see we learn from the very beginning that Olive is very much a virgin, and through a little white lie of losing said virginity, the entire high school begin gossiping about what a big slut she is. This leads to Olive’s good will being taken advantage of, as she begins helping the males on the bottom of the social ladder by pretending to have had sex with them in return for gift cards, while also upholding her slutty alter ego. Naturally this becomes incredibly messy, the rumours get worse, and Olive becomes confused about whether she is in fact a tramp or not. It is a modern day twist on the Scarlet Letter, a novel which explores similar themes, and is heavily referenced and used as inspiration for Olive in the film.
The acting is quite good from the entire cast with Emma Stone being incredibly loveable as the protagonist. The highlight are Olive’s adoptive parents, something which by the way isn’t explained very well, who are played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson; their witty upfront banter and relaxed yet loving parenting techniques being some of the funniest moments of the film.
I loved the very simply yet effective use of motion graphics in the opening and closing credits of the film, and also loved the technique of demonstrating, with the fast camera movements, of how quick a rumour can spread in high school.
The film runs at a fun pace, filled with many laughs and the odd emotional part. The crisis point definitely could have been better set up to allow for a more emotional loss for Olive, perhaps all we needed was a better introduction to the jerk at the Lobster shack.
The film payed off well at the end; if there was no musical number or no homage to John Hughes' classic teen 80’s films, as a mentioned wish of Olive’s of how life should be, then fuck, this film would have been getting one star.
It’s fun. It’s witty. It’s about sex, well the lack of sex, and it has a good heart. Watch it.