Easy A

Easy A, starring Emma Stone, is a fun and funny movie that I greatly enjoyed, and not just due to my undying love for Emma Stone (though I’m sure that helped). The movie centers on Olive (Emma Stone), an intelligent and quick-witted teen who makes up a small lie about losing her virginity. As things often go in movies such as this (and in real high schools all over the country) the tale becomes greatly conflated and Emma, once anything but popular, becomes the talk of the school in this clever retelling of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (a reference that the movie does not let you miss). And then, as one would expect, drama ensues.

The movie gets its charm, much as Mean Girls did, from playing on common high school experiences, which are shared by many of the viewers. While these movie high schools are covered in a thick coat of Hollywood gloss (as is Olive’s new-age family), that doesn’t undermine the validity of their portrayals. Underneath all the prettiness and ideal family values, Easy A is a relatable story about rumor mongering and the downplay of personal privacy. What we get is the story of a girl who wants to be popular, but realizes the heavy cost of living her life in plain sight and the consequences that can come from even the smallest lies. This story of the diminishment of personal privacy is one that is extremely pertinent in a day of Facebook and Twitter, and it shows that the stress of defining one’s own sexuality is hard enough without everyone following your every move (a very important point in the wake of all the suicides caused by adolescent boys being derided publicly for their sexual choices).

However, Easy A manages to address these topics in a way that doesn’t come off as preachy. The movie has laughs from open to close and some – like a scene of Olive and her “lover” pretending to have sex while an entire party listens in – nearly had me falling out of my seat. Emma Stone has finally found a role that suits her and will hopefully solidify her state as a strong female actor, but let’s all hope that the movie’s similarities to Mean Girls doesn't mean Emma will go the route of Lindsay (Lohan). The experience of being the brunt of harmful gossip is almost universal, which makes Easy A a highly relatable movie that should be seen by anyone young enough to remember the troubles of their high school years (or anyone old enough to have a child nearing that stage in their life).