Easy A tries too hard to be liked

Rating: 3/10 (26 November 2010)

Easy is a pretty simple straight forward story with an odd message. The plot is rather awkward and weird but for the most parts is plays out. Right from the start the film reeks a bit of desperation, as if it's trying too hard to be liked, much like many of its characters. Olive's feature-length confession, a 4th-wall breaking running monologue, is an awkward device that never seems sincere, while the turns the plot takes, particularly one involving a counsellor and a student, are simply too much to swallow. The film goes downhill in my opinion, from the part where it gets more religious. The scene with Olive going to church. It seemed like that was meant for the original R rating of the film.
The characters try hard to be liked but many of them I just don't ended up liking, in particular Olive, her parents (they too hard to be funny), Brandon, and the teacher- Mr. Griffith. Though I did like Amanda Bynes character- she should have been in it more (the best scenes involved her). Easy A is rather shallow and disgusting for a PG-13 film. In my opinion, I think the film would have been better had they kept the film being rated R. The jokes would have been better with a few more swearing and probably more sexual content. The message is obscured by mayhem here as Easy A's moral roots are undercut by its attempts to be one of the cinematic crowd. It just doesn't work for me. Maybe I'm not in the target audience but the film still could had been better. I also felt like they could have added an extra 20 minutes to develop the supporting characters (Rihannon, Marianne, Brandon). Things just felt unfinished and unanswered.