MOVIE OF THE WEEK #1: EASY A

If this movie's a hit, I'll be making this motion in regards to my future paychecks! Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) is all smiles when a little rumor helps her in her quest to earn an EASY A.
Credit: Adam Taylor © 2009 Sony Pictures Publicity. All Rights Reserved.

KEY CAST MEMBERS: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm MacDowell, Aly Michalka and Stanley Tucci

WRITER: Bert V. Royal

DIRECTOR: Will Gluck

WEB SITE: www.letsnotandsaywedid.com/

THE PLOT: Easy A features Emma Stone (Superbad, The House Bunny, Zombieland) in her first headlining role as Olive Penderghast, a clean cut high school student. That image takes a serious hit, however, when she inadvertently tells a little white lie about her virginity (or losing it, rather) to her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) to explain her absence from a camping trip.

As one might expect it would in high school, that action is not without consequence for Olive, who ends up expanding upon the lie with Brandon (Dan Byrd). Well, things just steamroll from there, making Olive's life much like that of Hester Prynne’s in the novel The Scarlet Letter that she is studying in the class of her favorite teacher, Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church).

So what does Olive decide to do about it once people like the very religious Marianne (Amanda Bynes) start dragging her name through the mud? The only thing, the American thing she can: Exploit it to her advantage!

THE TAKE: One has to give Stone credit. For Easy A proves [1] she can act [2] she can carry a movie in a leading role [3] she is funny and [4] if the script, director and cast connect, you can produce a high school movie that's not terribly juvenile. For the film - which REALLY pushes it's PG-13 rating language and subject matter wise - is clever in its wordplay and something most films don't know how to be despite their intent, fun and entertaining.

As Olive, Stone toes the line well between adolescent fears and adult sensibility, giving her character an edge without ever seeming too hip for the room or above the scenario in which she finds herself. Likewise, the film acknowledges its 80s influences while at the same time using them to its advantage under Gluck's watchful eye, making the film more in line with flicks like Superbad and Mean Girls than cheesier fare like 90s staple Can't Hardly Wait, Drive Me Crazy or 2008's long-forgotten Sex Drive (Sorry James Marsden). Of course, the film's gay-friendly nature and less than positive take on Christianity (let's just say Amanda Bynes' character and her crew are depicted a bit Fox News-y in an extreme sense ...)

Throw in the spirited, light-hearted but never too silly performances of Church, Lisa Kudrow (as Church's wife/school guidance counselor with her own problems) and Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive's parents and the film serves itself up nicely as a film you can watch, enjoy and laugh at without feeling guilty about it. And given how rough high school is, that's not something to take lightly.

PARTING SHOT: While it's more like a solid "B," Easy A is graduates with honors in terms of being entertaining.

RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):