A totally charming comedy about gossip, rash judgment and other sins

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2010)

The poster of the movie "Easy A" sums up its big lesson well: "Let's Not and Say We Did." If you're going to say you've done something, then it better be true, because even a teeny- weeny lie could make your life a living hell and, worse, make your name synonymous with toxic skank forever.
How Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) got to be wearing "whore couture" with a scarlet letter A on her chest — like Hester Prynne, the martyr of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel — is the subject of this totally charming comedy that sheds light on teen misbehaviorial patterns and the nature of shame, rash judgment and other sins. This movie does a satirical take on the nature of gossip: that people are willing to believe the worst in others and that they will blindly believe what they choose to believe. Tell 'em what they want to hear and they will lap it up, spreading the news through phone texts and the Internet.
The hemlines of Olive's clothes conform nicely to Ojai High School's rule: not higher than her fingertips. Her fashion preference is French designer brands: black, cut low, with lacy frills that say corset chic. The letter A recalls Hester's punishment for her crime of Adultery. No, it doesn't stand for Awesome; it's a play on the phrase "easy lay."
How easy a lay? Well, some boys in this California school can claim to have bedded her just like that — this weird bunch of guys who many say were gay, repugnant or ostracized. Olive's reputation as a slut, a floozy and a Jezebel trollop was born at a party at a friend's house, where her classmates gathered before a bedroom door to listen to her kinky, squealing session with Brandon (Dan Byrd), who until then had been tormented by talk that he was gay.
But Olive, 17, tells us a totally different story. First that it's all a lie, a bunch of fake relationships and pretend sex. She's been accepting offers simply to help boost the guys' egos and peer ranking. "The rumors of my promiscuity have been greatly exaggerated," she says.
For a highly intelligent girl to tell her closest friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka) the lie that she slept with a college jock sounds dumb, but that's the Olive drawn by director Will Gluck and screenplay author Bert V. Royal: a jumble of contradictions. The trouble with this young woman is that she gives in too quickly to the whims of friends and emotional blackmailers. Is her personality too insecure or of such low self-esteem that she's always trying to please others, even the school lynch mob?
After all, she has the greatest parents in the world (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson), a bit too liberal and hands-off perhaps but exceptional, and quite witty too. "I will take a bullet for you, have my throat slit to stand up for you," dad Dill assures her. Dill and Rosemary Penderghast, plus adopted boy Chip? What a spiced-up family!
Then, things start to get out of hand. At Stage 2, her reputation goes down from a common slut to a tramp who demands cash in exchange for easy favors. It doesn't matter that in reality she gets peanuts for her help, such as discount coupons for Home Depot or free tickets to a foreign-language art-house film. And didn't Brandon just send her a tacky gift, a vibrator?
At Stage 3, she incurs the wrath of Jesus-loving, sex-abstaining Christians on campus, led by Cross Your Heart Club head Marianne Bryant (Amanda Byrnes). Hell-fearing Marianne has many positive virtues. As pretty and as gifted with words, she rivals Olive in a contest to win our sympathy. Yet, in the film's final irony, Olive turns out to have virtues that young Christians hold so dearly.
Stage 4 is the turning point in the spiraling charade, when Olive allegedly turns into a home wrecker and, for the first time, reveals the pain she's been through. She idolizes her hip but wise English teacher Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church), who is married to the very competent guidance counselor (Lisa Kudrow). But Olive later does something to the Griffiths that doesn't make her proud of herself.
And then there's mild-mannered, multi-talented Anson (Jake Sandvig), a hot-air balloon enthusiast and admirer of author Sylvia Plath, who invites Olive to a date at the Lobster Shack. He raises up Olive's hopes for a better social life. But what a letdown it is when, in the movie's eye-opening moment, he turns out to be no better than the rest of the guys.
The movie leaves unanswered the biggest question: what is the motive behind Olive's over- identifying with Hawthorne's branded martyr? Also, it's hard to fathom why the people whom Olive had helped turn so mean in the end. But the movie does answer, in a droll, heartwarming way, the question of why the Penderghast couple has raised such a wonderful daughter in Olive. And as to the puzzle as to who among a short list of school hunks will win Olive's heart, it delivers a solution that is heartwarming, very romantic and obvious.
Assessing this movie's cast could be done through what Olive and her friends call "identifiers," or the initials of the key words that describe a person. Byrnes as Marianne and Michalka as Rhiannon are both F.L, funny and lovable. Haden Church and Kudrow as the Griffiths are B.S., believable and sympathetic. And playing the Penderghasts with a post- hippie style of parenting, Tucci and Clarkson are M.A.G., magical actor genies who are a delight to watch.
And Emma Stone is simply A.B.C. — adorable, bright and a completely confident comedienne. What the critics have unanimously said about her is true. "Easy A" is as much the journey of a young woman into adulthood as Stone's stepping stone to a well-deserved stardom.