A John Hughes Teenager Movie Minus John Hughes

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2010)

Easy A does something almost no teenager movie does nowadays. It takes the theme and overall feel of a John Hughes movie. That alone awards the film two stars that it goes down the path of a true director/writer/producer. John Hughes was an inspiration and a legend in the filmmaking industry who's films will never even be matched by movies in the future. Though Easy A is well aware John Hughes is no part of this, but it takes elements and treats it like Hughes Gold which is the part I like. It even shows clips from The Breakfast Club, Say Anything, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Sixteen Candles in comparison to our lead character which was something I thought was dead in movies. Never would I have thought a current film, made in 2010, utilize and reflect on the characters brought to us on a piece of art made by John Hughes.
Emma Stone is a woman of talent. Her perky attitude and gorgeous smile makes her one of the top female actresses in Hollywood today. This movie makes her. She was backup in Superbad and Zombieland now she finally gets the lead role spot she deserves. Every actor/actress needs a lead movie role, but only few put them on top. While Taylor Lautner had a role when he was younger in The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl, but girls didn't start paying attention to his abs until his breakout with The Twilight Saga finally emerged and since then he has been labeled "hot" by every girl in the United States. With Emma Stone's first real lead role in a movie she does a remarkable job and is just a pleasure to see on screen.
The plot involves Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone), a clean cut High School student who is overheard by the religious fanatic girl Marianne (Amanda Bynes) while talking with her best friend. Olive and her friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka) mention the word "virginity" and "sex" a few times leaving Marianne under the assumption Olive lost her virginity over the weekend. The rumor spreads throughout the High School (coming from someone who got of the middle school bus not to long ago I can say rumors spread faster than the news of Michael Jackson's death) and everyone now labels Olive as a Jezebel, slut, tramp, every derogatory name in the book.
Olive figures that if people think she's a slut, she'll show no shame in acting like one, sewing a scarlet "A" on her clothing, a reference from Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter" which Olive is reading in her English class. Both coincide with each other since Olive and "The Scarlet Letter"'s character Hester both are in the boat of dealing with sexual abstinence and taking very similar acts and approaches in the film. Things only get worse when after her homosexual friend is tormented at school and begs her to have "fake sex" with him at a party so he will be the "stud" and not looked down upon. Olive goes into business doing this for other kids and it only sinks her reputation lower and lower.
This film definitely takes a path of it's own when it seems it's following the crowd. I couldn't tell you the wasteland of crap teen movies we have nowadays. In fact, I believe the last good teen film of the 2000 - 2009 decade I saw was Mean Girls a few months ago. So starting off the decade with something like this is excellent. it's in no way recycled. While the teenager plot can be excused because that part just establishes the overall attitude and sense of the film. But having being parallel to a novel and having a perky, upbeat, never dull premise and characters I was consistently amused at Easy A's constant effort and how high in quality it held in an attempt to be like a John Hughes film.
Easy A is Emma Stone's gem in her filmography. This will be her best movie for a long time. While her part in Superbad was only brief and her role in Zombieland wasn't her at all as she played a Gothic/Emo character which was out of the ordinary. Easy A pretty much establishes a personality close to hers. Excusing the sexual abstinence part, she probably is a "clean cut High School girl". The topic of sexual abstinence is one usually overshadowed by safe sex and is rarely talked about among parental conversations I can assure, but overall, it is dealt with well in this movie and the outcome is nothing but satisfying. It's also refreshing to here Simple Minds' amazing song "Don't You Forget About Me" in a new movie and the reflection of John Hughes clips. That is the cherry on the sundae.
Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Alyson Michalka, Stanley Tucci. Directed by: Will Gluck.