Brilliant. An easy A. (Snicker, yeah... I did that.)

Rating: 8/10 (15 November 2012)

This movie is by and far the best teen movie in existence. Not only because it was cast beautifully, but because the writing is witty and intelligent and the characters are interesting. Not too much of any one thing and keeps you actually interested in the storyline and the characters themselves. Emma Stone is one of my new favourite actresses and this role was MADE for her. She is utterly adorable, but not in that way that teens are generally portrayed in film. She lets you believe that she could be her anonymous self, but instead of the typical "nobody turns bimbo/mini-skirted/Prada'd/mean girl" star of the teen comedy/drama, this movie offers a fresh and more genuine version of the heroine's transformation. She finds herself as she finds popularity and has a good grasp of what's really going on. The bottom line is that seventeen year olds aren't idiots, they are just lacking much in the way of real world experience... but they are so often given lame roles in movies like these. This one lets you believe she's seventeen, and she has to deal with all the normal high school crap, but in a far more believable fashion than usual. And with a fabulous script, all the characters come to life.
Olive's (Stone) character is largely supported by her great relationship with her eccentric but genius family. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson shine in their parental roles. Their report is a brilliantly modern and refreshing journey away from what has become such a common cliché of dysfunctional family dynamic that I think teens are starting to believe that they are supposed to act like idiots around their parents. My own teen years looked far more like Olive's than anything else I've seen, and Stone's character portrayal allows a teen to believe that it's actually OK to be intelligent and have a confidence level that is parallel to high school rather than dependent on it. Or defined by it. All in all, a great film for anyone, not just the teen genre.