A clever, fun, risqué teen comedy. One of the better with great performances!!

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2011)

Easy A seems to have solidly placed its star Emma Stone into the Hollywood eye. And for good reason. Any one who is a fan of good solid funny, fun entertaining teen movies will absolutely love Easy A. Is it a chick flick? Yes definitely but anyone can enjoy the humour!! A solid cast of young hot up and comers (a few TV stars on hiatus I'm sure) but has a perfect mix of cheeky humour, sarcasm, physical comedy and mistaken undertones. Now all this doesn't equal a family friendly film. The lead characters are all in college and there is plenty of rough language and taboo talk to keep adult movie goers happy and laughing but with none of the stupid toilet humour of a Judd Apatow film (not that that type of humour is always a bad thing but it usually is.) This was writer Bert Royal's first entry into big time screenplay writing and he hits it out of the park. Cheeky wild humour will literally keep you laughing and sometimes its roll in the aisles funny. This is one of those occasions where a cast just works really well together and while I always pictured Emma Stone as being a little too geeky for this kind of movie she absolutely nails it and looks great doing it.
Emma Stone plays Olive, who just wants to get noticed and at the same time decides to conduct something of an experiment in woman's promiscuity. Stone is geeky and silly but has tons of heart and she will win you over with this film hence why she got so much notice for it including a bit of a surprising Golden Globe nomination. She won't be supporting characters any more I am certain. Penn Badgley of Gossip Girl is the guy next door that loves Olive. He is perfect for playing the guy next door but his character might be almost a little too understated. He's quiet and a little withdrawn and his chemistry with Stone is just a little awkward. I love Amanda Bynes. I think she was on the path to being a brilliant comedienne but somewhere she hit a hiccup. She does a decent job as the snooty, and uppity nemesis to Stone's Olive but I sort of expected more from her and missed seeing her in the lead role. Dan Byrd (Cougar Town fame) is really good as Olive's friend and first 'client' so to speak. He doesn't have a big role but he is great in the role he has. Thomas Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow have good supporting roles in the film as Professors. They both have some really funny scenes. Two of the best cameos in the film are by the hilarious Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson who play Olive's liberal parents. The dinner table scene with the three of them is absolutely hilarious and classic!! Alyson Michalka (Hellcats) is Olive's best friend and she does well playing the role she is given. I think her role is very stereotypical so they don't give her a lot of room to act.
The late teen, early twenty demographic that this is aimed at love Television. Especially those cult shows that adults wonder how they stay on the air...you know anything on the CW so it makes sense that they would haul in those young hot TV Stars. But they don't give them a lot instead leaving it up to Emma Stone and the cameos from bigger film stars. Director Will Gluck seems to be a popular choice for this class of film given his first movie was Fired Up! which I have yet to see. I have a feeling this film has a little more intelligence behind it. Regardless he clearly knows how to make the teen comedy flourish and he put together a solid cast and this wins its target audience clearly. Easy A is the absolutely perfect date movie and men won't cringe to sit through this because everyone will laugh and enjoy how silly it is. Check this one out and do yourself a favour!! 8/10