Gossip is a powerful tool. Just refer to any tabloid editors, page six of “The New York Post”, your local church lady or the most self-righteous girl from your high school. While gossip is usually no more than truthiness used by one person to injure or besmirch the reputation of another, many who hear it “through the grape vine” adopt it as straight truth. This is the simple premise of “Easy A”, which boasts brilliance in dialogue, story, acting and ironic humor.
Emma Stone stars as Olive Penderghast, a nobody trudging through the daily “perils” and “drama” that immortalizes high school for many Americans in the town of Ojai, Calif. Olive is extraordinarily bright (she agrees that almost anything starring Demi Moore is not worth watching), attractive and unique as teenage girls go, having the articulation of Rory Gilmore mixed with the slight indifference of Juno MacGuff. She hangs around with just one friend, Rhiannon (Aly Michalka), who happens to be rather promiscuous. In order to get out of a camping trip with Rhiannon and her beatnik parents, Olive claims to have a date with a college boy. Of course, pressured to “dish” about what happened on her date, Olive decides to appease Rhiannon’s dirty mind and say she lost her virginity. Unfortunately, good-timing on the part of the school’s little miss Christian-fundamentalist, Marianne (Amanda Bynes in an annoying, but applaud-worthy performance), leads to a quick game of telephone. This soon makes Olive’s faux-rendezvous common knowledge.
From here, Olive confronts sudden notoriety and the unanticipated power to help a few down-trodden souls (i.e. harassed homosexuals, nerds, geeks, etc.) climb the rickety ladder of school popularity by including them in on her little secret. She allows them to say they slept with her and she, in return, gets hundreds of dollars in gift cards. Wrong? Yes. Dirty? Yes. Funny? You bet!
While her satisfied “clientele” enjoy the fruits of her labor, Olive is left to face the double-standard of appearing to be a sexually active teen girl. In an attempt to fight back, Olive takes a note from Nathaniel Hawthorne — or rather famed literary character Hester Prynne — by sewing a scarlet letter “A” to every piece of clothing she owns. The irony flies over the heads of her schoolmates, but cannot be missed by the knowing observer.
The supporting cast, which includes Thomas Haden Church as Olive’s favorite teacher, is far from lacking in talent. Church’s straight-faced humor provokes several of the film’s biggest laughs. Lisa Kudrow, best known for her lovably ditsy turn as Phoebe Buffay on the NBC sitcom “Friends”, plays against type as a scandalous guidance counselor, but definitely makes it work to her credit. And while their easy-going attitudes seem too unbelievable, Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are hysterical as Olive’s witty parents.
In addition to the unrealistic reactions from Olive’s parents, the film does request quite a bit of disbelief. It is very hard to fathom a public high school in 2010 that is comprised of so many apparent “prudes”, but yet the students of North Ojai High seem stunned at the idea of a non-virgin walking among them. Not to say teen sex is smart, nor should it be condoned, however, the depiction of one sexual event turning so many people against one girl is, perhaps, asking too much of our ability to suspend belief … especially when one considers Rhiannon’s presumed experience.
Also raising an eyebrow is the school faculty. I know most educators are famously liberal, but these teachers’ laid-back interference in Olive’s predicament is absurd.
Fortunately for “Easy A”, these weaknesses have little effect on the film. Emma Stone, particularly, stands out as a tremendously underrated star. “Where has she been hiding,” one might ask. The answer: bit parts in films and TV shows. Let’s hope she does not re-enter that sheltered acting life, because she is brimming with great potential.
This film’s predominant influence is, undoubtedly, the late John Hughes, director of such teen hits of the 1980’s as “Sixteen Candles”, “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. So prevalent is Hughes’ influence, that Olive even makes several references to his work in the movie. Well, if Hughes is who the filmmakers of “Easy A” were trying to emulate, they should know that they succeeded … at making a film better than most appearing on Hughes’ filmography.
And please remember, if you’re going to gossip about something in the coming weeks, make it be about “Easy A”.
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