A Review of Easy A By Eli Khuri-Reid
Easy A, rated PG-13, starring Emma Stone and directed by Will Gluck, follows Olive Penderghast, a 17 year old high school student as she narrates the account of her pretending to loose her virginity. The movie begins with Olive lying to her best friend Rhiannon to avoid going camping with her family. Her lies escalate to the point of her lying about loosing her virginity to a college student. While Olive says this, Marianne, a prissy baptist, overhears her and begins to spread nasty rumors about her. What follows are some wacky hi-jinks, skeptical accounts of prostitution, and a lot of 80s references.
My opinion:
It was pretty good. If you suffer from second-hand embarrassment don't watch this movie because my gosh are the parents in this movie cringy. From the father asking his own adopted child "so where are you from originally" and the mother, when her daughter confided in her the awful bullying she had been going through, proceeded to discuss how much she got around as a high school student and all the positions she could get into as a contortionist. That was pretty much my only problem with this movie was that all of the characters in this movie seem like exaggerations of actual human beings. The adults in this movie seem incredibly immature and childish and while I get that adult interference would alter the dynamic the movie is going for, but it feels a little jarring that the principle let Olive go through her full "dance" routine at the end. In addition to the adults, some of the kids feel more like stereotypes than actual characters. One scene that felt a little weird to me was the scene where Olive was poorly playing the guitar and doing her own ad-libs. This scene really didn't make sense in the context of this movie and I think it's only there just to show how quirky and sporadic the main character is (although Emma Stone masterfully performs this scene). But there still is a lot of this movie that I enjoyed. I think the references to the Scarlet Letter were well though out and genuine and I do believe that this movie covered the themes of double standards when it comes to sexuality among young boys and girls fairly well and it does take these themes into different directions like how Olive "owned" her promiscuity instead of being a helpless victim like other protagonists.
In conclusion, while this move does have a lackluster ending and the characters aren't my favorite, the movie does bring new and interesting themes to the table and it clearly cut out it's own place where it wants to stand as a teen comedy. While it's not the first or the last nor anywhere near the best movie to discuss these topics it is a pretty enjoyable watch. 4/5, could be better but still serviceable.
My opinion:
It was pretty good. If you suffer from second-hand embarrassment don't watch this movie because my gosh are the parents in this movie cringy. From the father asking his own adopted child "so where are you from originally" and the mother, when her daughter confided in her the awful bullying she had been going through, proceeded to discuss how much she got around as a high school student and all the positions she could get into as a contortionist. That was pretty much my only problem with this movie was that all of the characters in this movie seem like exaggerations of actual human beings. The adults in this movie seem incredibly immature and childish and while I get that adult interference would alter the dynamic the movie is going for, but it feels a little jarring that the principle let Olive go through her full "dance" routine at the end. In addition to the adults, some of the kids feel more like stereotypes than actual characters. One scene that felt a little weird to me was the scene where Olive was poorly playing the guitar and doing her own ad-libs. This scene really didn't make sense in the context of this movie and I think it's only there just to show how quirky and sporadic the main character is (although Emma Stone masterfully performs this scene). But there still is a lot of this movie that I enjoyed. I think the references to the Scarlet Letter were well though out and genuine and I do believe that this movie covered the themes of double standards when it comes to sexuality among young boys and girls fairly well and it does take these themes into different directions like how Olive "owned" her promiscuity instead of being a helpless victim like other protagonists.
In conclusion, while this move does have a lackluster ending and the characters aren't my favorite, the movie does bring new and interesting themes to the table and it clearly cut out it's own place where it wants to stand as a teen comedy. While it's not the first or the last nor anywhere near the best movie to discuss these topics it is a pretty enjoyable watch. 4/5, could be better but still serviceable.
I completely agree with your review of this movie, and I honestly think we have to give the actors an insane amount of credit for pulling off roles that seem completely stupid, as they were probably directed to portray them a certain way. I took this movie as a completely self aware satire, as if the characters knew they were in a movie and they're only job was to perpetuate stereotypes the best that they could. It is a good movie in the sense that it is almost near impossible to watch the movie without cracking up and it's a good uplifting story of a girl reclaiming her sexuality and at the same time getting the classic 80's teen rom com ending we all deserve but never get.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this review, and I'm glad you decided to do something other than a book review. I definitely agree with you about the second-hand embarrassment and exaggerated stereotypes in this film. However, like you mentioned, Emma Stone was an excellent actress, and she was able to make the stereotypes in the novel seem less cringe-worthy. I did enjoy the premise of the movie, and I also thought that the allusions to the Scarlet Letter were well-thought out. Overall, outstanding review!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I thought you explained the movie pretty well, I disagree with some of the things you said about this movie. The part towards the beginning where you talked about the parents being one of the worst parts of the movie is probably disagreement with your review. I thought the parents were the only genuinely amusing people in the movie and the only times I laughed at the movie was when Olive's mother made the jokes about her being a prostitute on wheels and when Olive's teacher made sex and crack references. However, I can see where you are coming from and this is just my opinion. The last thing I will yell at you about is not including Lisa Kudrow in your review...
ReplyDeleteThat's fair, I too found the sex joke funny and while I do think that the parents actors played off their role pretty well I think the problems comes in the lines themselves as they feel overly forced and not natural to what actual human beings would do in that situation. I think the problem boils down to the parents being put in a situation where their involvement would dampen the themes of the story but their sidelining actually inadvertently hurts the story. I do think when just watching the movie for comedic reasons you can enjoy the parents much more than I did. (also once we remove the nostalgia-stained glasses and actually see Friends for what is we'll see that Lisa Kudrow is heavily overrated as an actress. She's still a great comedian though.)
DeleteYou made a lot of interesting and valid points in this review! I definitely agree with your opinion that most of the characters are stereotypes rather than fleshed out characters. You also put my thoughts into words by talking about how Olive often did random things in the movie that seemed to add nothing to the story just to make her seem extra "quirky." Despite these flaws, I also agree with you in that this was a solid movie that connected itself to the Scarlet Letter in a very clever way. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI thought this movie was kinda strange due to a combination of the factors you mentioned in your posts. First of all, I have no idea why Olive told Rhi that she slept with the college kid. It just seems like a dumb thing to do. Like Cameron, I kinda liked the exaggerated qualities of the characters and thought they were sort of funny. However, I do agree with you that there are some good references to The Scarlet Letter and there's lots of potential for discussion. Great review that wasn't about a book to spice things up!
ReplyDeleteNice review! I agree with most of what you brought up about how the characters were way too exaggerated and were stereotypes. However, the characters helped drive home the message of the movie about the double standards that can sometimes be found in today's society. I think the movie made some good references to "The Scarlet Letter", but I think they were mainly in the background and the movie was more of a remake of "The Scarlet Letter" if Hawthorne was writing about today's society. "Easy A" is almost a completely different story than "The Scarlet Letter" but with the same concept at heart. All together I can completely agree with your final review at the end of your post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your review except for one main part: this movie was definitely a 5/5. It might even be better than the great "Tall Girl". The overly forced characters were what made the movie funny, and the cringeworthy parts of it were exactly my type if humour. I thought that the movie was definitely forced and could be considered unfunny, but their jokes appeal to exactly the type of person that I am. Therefore your opinion is wrong and there will be a human sacrifice involving you and drowning in bolognas in the near future...
ReplyDelete