When Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “The Scarlett Letter he portrayed a community of condemnatory, judgmental and self-righteous citizens. If only he knew how well this description matched modern-day High School students.
It is after we graduate that we realize how ridiculous High School was; Bert Royal realized this, too, when he wrote the script for the new feature film, Easy A.”
“Easy A starring Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes and Penn Badgley, offers a ridiculous, but uncannily accurate, depiction of the rumors, betrayal and romance of High School. Olive (Emma Stone), an apathetic and seemingly invisible high school student, goes from invisible to the most talked about girl on campus overnight, due to the spreading of a false rumor telling of her sexual promiscuity. Taking from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter” (which she happens to be studying at that time in her English class) Olive models herself into a modern day Hester Prynne complete with the scarlet A’s atop her newly fashioned risqué wardrobe.
The basic plot line of the story is painfully cliché: A misunderstood girl has to prove her worth and in the meantime gains the affection of the agonizingly muscular and always shirtless school heartthrob. But Easy A goes one step further than Mean Girls or She’s the Man or any of the other movies with this same exact plot line: It’s actually funny.
Between the cast and the script all of the one liners and light humor are tastefully sarcastic and capably carried out by the actors. For example Olive’s offhand and light-hearted parents played by Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci constantly dialogue off each other delivering line after line of witty comebacks and one liners. Emma Stone as Olive effortlessly slides into her role as the sarcastic protagonist and constantly maintains a good balance between authentic and melodramatic which is a refreshing break from Lindsay Lohan-esque actresses.
Another striking facet of the film is how effortlessly modern humor was integrated into the script. From texting to Facebook to streaming online videos the movie gives the impression that it actually understands the relationship high school students have with technology. There are no cheesy overly dramatized efforts to market this movie to younger tech-savvy audiences— it naturally flows into the film as if the director and writers actually use Facebook and texting.
In fact the best parts of the movie are both how well it depicts the inner workings of High School and how well it satirizes it. From the wildfire spreading of a scandalous rumor to stereotypical self-righteous circles of friends to the quick and universal condemnation of a “skank it was easy to satirize the life of Olive from Easy A” in comparison to the life of Hester Prynne from “The Scarlet Letter.”
Easy A however was not Amanda Bynes’ best performance. As the preppy “Jesus Freak” who originally condemns Olive for losing her virginity Bynes tried a little too hard to live up to her character’s reputation and goes a little overboard with Jesus enthusiasm.
Overall what makes this film entertaining is how simple it is to watch. It was filmed entirely in Ojai California so there are no green screens or CGI animation or other advanced technological distractions. And ironically enough there are no nude scenes or even uncomfortable sexual humor. Also unlike Inception it’s not a mental workout. There are no epic fight scenes or bloodshed or heart-wrenching death scenes. It is a simple enjoyable movie that leaves no sequel to be anticipated or hanging questions to be answered. As rare as a movie like this is these days I have to give it an “easy” A (for Awesome).
