Good dialog and narrative insightful story

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2010)

The story is a change from the recent teen movies. It is more serious, well structured and thoughtful. The dialog is interesting and smart and the jokes and situations while not generally laugh out loud hilarious are quite unexpected and witty. The overall message is about rumors and reputation is actually quite insightful and entertaining. Also the pressure to fit in and concern about appearances rings true. The literary link up with the Scarlett Letter is well done.
There are good supporting performances from Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow. Penn Badgely blends in well to a lot of movies now from The Stepfather to this one. Cam Gigandet is good too.
Emma Stone has a lovely figure and she acts well but she hasn't got the most pleasant facial features. I understand she isn't supposed to be very pretty for this role. Its just that watching her face as the main feature for a whole movie is a little trying. Someone like Anna Faris might have been more watchable.
Speaking about facial features, what on earth happened to Amanda Bynes? Did she have plastic surgery at her age? Still she is quite hilarious. This is watchable and enjoyable overall.