Easy A

In the spirit of Jon Stewart’s recently announced Rally To Restore Sanity, Easy A is a film that is a big proponent of moderation.  In this case, the subject is women, or more specifically teenage girls and their sexuality.  The message:  Sleeping with someone doesn’t make you a slut. However, its probably best you don’t become a slut.  And while we’re at it, don’t be a raging bible thumper that imposes their judgment on others either.  I found it to be an agreeable message.

Easy A is an entertaining teenage comedy anchored by a star performance from the likeable Emma Stone whose performance and appearance gives off the same vibes as a pre-coke Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls.  Using some classic Hollywood Suspension of Disbelief, Stone is cast as the bookish Olive Penderghast, an average girl in a small town highschool who embelishes in a story about her dull weekend at home by telling her best friend Rianna that she lost her actually lost her virginity.  She is overheard by the God-fearing and gossip mongering Marianne, played by Amanda Bynes, and before long, Olive finds herself with the reputation of being the village bicycle.

Olive isn’t phased by this in the slightest.  She welcomes the newfound attention and knows that she has the support of her kooky yet compassionate parents to fall back on.  Things take a turn for the complicated however when she agrees to have pretend sex with a gay student who is teased at school to create the fascade that he is straight.  Before long, Olive gets a reputation for her services and she is faced with a lineup of social outcasts who require her reputation-boosting talents.

It’s all fun and games until Olive becomes the subject of a campaign to expel her from school lead by Marianne and her church friends.  Olive then alienates and loses her best friend and unwittingly exposes an unfaithful marriage.  Things get messy for a while before Olive gets back on track with the aid of a thoroughly under-written love interest who helps her find her self esteem and sense of direction.

This is a good high school comedy but not a great one.  While its no Clueless, Mean Girls or Sixteen Candles, its still enjoyable and you’re kept in good company with a decent supporting cast and some pretty good one liners.  The film also makes good on its promise to deliver a random musical number which involves Olive emerging out of a pile of timber in burlesque attire and then dancing with a giant beaver.  Perhaps in the spirit of the film’s message, the producers have created a perfect agreeable and moderate film.  It’s not a classic but its not bad either.