Easy A 2010
This movie is playing on one of my free movie channels, which consistently deliver some of the worst movies ever made. Maybe they are wearing me down, or maybe Easy A is really a little more than meets the eye. It seems like the movie is presented as some kind of typical high school movie, but it is a little less realistic and a little meatier than it is portrayed. I like the tie-in to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter which, not coincidentally, the kids are reading in one of their classes.
Wikipedia says that the writer intends to do a trilogy of movies based on classic literature and this is just the first. Meanwhile, the director is a big fan of John Hughes 1980’s movies, so there are references to Ferris Beuller, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club, which also happen to be favorites of mine. The movie also seems very similar to 2004’s Mean Girls, right down to the lead actress, Emma Stone, who even kind of looks like Lindsey Lohan. Or like Lohan used to look. There is even the mandatory gay friend, along with the former hippie parents (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson) (were there that many hippies in the 80’s?), and cool teachers (Thomas Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow) struggling with their own problems. There is maybe a little too much improv, but it gives some zing to the performances, even when the lines themselves are a little flat. There are still some good lines, and most of the movie is a comedy despite the potentially dark story. But the story gives a solid base to hang some comedy on, rather than movies where a few good jokes can’t hold up a weak plot.
Anyway, this was a nice surprise, but not “nice” in the sense that kids need to be watching this. It is more of a movie for adults about high school students (and starring adults since most of the high school students look like they have already graduated college). I won’t give it an A, which would be too easy, and instead will give it a B+.
Update (February 2020): I wound up buying the blu-ray and watched again. It is fun seeing the references to John Hughes movies and Emma Stone has done quite well since this came out, so it is neat seeing her in an early role.
Written: 17 Jul 2011
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital