Easy A

I was not entirely interested in watching Easy A before I watched it. The last high school movie that I actually enjoyed was 10 Things I Hate About You and that movie came out in 1999. And before that the only good high school movies were from the 80s. I tend to set my expectations low for high school movies and it is a rare thing to have my expectations exceeded in this genre...

Easy A is an above-average high school comedy. It is a present day twist on The Scarlet Letter starring Emma Stone as Olive. And when I say starring, I mean it. Stone took the lead role by the horns. She is sassy and charismatic. The only problem with Stone being so great is that a person as intelligent and good looking as her character would never have been ignored in high school like her character is. There are plenty of clever things in the film that make it easy to look past any of the problems the story has. For instance, Easy A has boldly smart dialog and truly like-able characters. The two most notably like-able characters are Olive's parents, played by Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci. They are a bit out there yet quite endearing. The pièce de résistance, of course, is the many blatant references to, and the clips of, several 80s high school movies. They give it a multi-generational appeal, which is an impressive achievement. Easy A is quite entertaining; it exceeds expectations.