Better than the average High School comedy

Rating: 7/10 (19 November 2010)

This is an enjoyable comedy marked by excellent performances and a slightly dark take on at the problems of High School life.
Emma Stone is an unremarkable student who, by accident, gets the reputation for being a slut (She isn't). In some ways she is glad of the attention and plays along with the reputation. However this only leads to bigger problems.
I've liked Stone in films such as "Zombieland" and "Superbad" and here again she plays her smart and sarcastic character well so that we have sympathy for her, even though we may not agree with all her decisions. There good performances from Thomas Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow as teachers. However Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson almost steal the show as Stone's laid back parents. It looks like they had a ball playing their parts.
A small quibble is the casting of obviously twenty something actors such as Stone and Penn Badgley as High School students.
As expected there is a share of hugging and learning towards the end of the film but that is only to be expected in this genre. It is a well-written and acted comedy that doesn't shove its message at the viewer too hard.