Early on in Easy A, the protagonist introduces herself as a woman of "sound mind and average breast size". I winced at the tackiness of that line, and was just about ready to write the rest of the movie off because of it. First the film sets up all those tired conventions about the evil libby and the importance of popularity, and then jokes are going to suck as well? Yeesh! Thankfully, I didn't turn it off there and then.
Once the main plot is introduced (that of a girl's struggle with the popular perception of being a "slut"), Easy A comes into its own. The jokes get funnier, and the show kicks the chair out from underneath many of the conventions it first appears to parade. It nods to predecessor highschool stories like Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants, right before taking the piss out of them. The result is a clever reimagining of a familiar setting, capable of grappling with an endemic double-standard in society: our perception of female promiscuity (aka the 'Slut') versus male promiscuity (the 'stud').
The success of all of this is down to the protagonist and the talented actress playing her. Olive proves herself to be charismatic, well-rounded, and generally likeable lead. Her lightning fast wit is totally implausable, but it is funny enough for that not to matter. Her banter with her equally sharp parents is a pleasure to watch and serves as the highlight of the movie. My only disappointment (and the only real criticism I could make of the movie) is the libby character, who in a movie that messes around with convention, gets played totally straight. She remains a bitch throughout the entire movie, and sticks to being a 2-dimensional, strawman political against conservative christians. For a movie that was so good at challenging perceptions, it was sad to see it pander to others.
Easy A remains true to its chick-flick pedigree, whilst being accessable to guys. Original, insightful and hilarious, I fully recommend this movie to anyone that had the slightest of interest (and hadn't seen it already).
Film Bear with it.
Early on in Easy A, the protagonist introduces herself as a woman of "sound mind and average breast size". I winced at the tackiness of that line, and was just about ready to write the rest of the movie off because of it. First the film sets up all those tired conventions about the evil libby and the importance of popularity, and then jokes are going to suck as well? Yeesh! Thankfully, I didn't turn it off there and then.
Once the main plot is introduced (that of a girl's struggle with the popular perception of being a "slut"), Easy A comes into its own. The jokes get funnier, and the show kicks the chair out from underneath many of the conventions it first appears to parade. It nods to predecessor highschool stories like Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants, right before taking the piss out of them. The result is a clever reimagining of a familiar setting, capable of grappling with an endemic double-standard in society: our perception of female promiscuity (aka the 'Slut') versus male promiscuity (the 'stud').
The success of all of this is down to the protagonist and the talented actress playing her. Olive proves herself to be charismatic, well-rounded, and generally likeable lead. Her lightning fast wit is totally implausable, but it is funny enough for that not to matter. Her banter with her equally sharp parents is a pleasure to watch and serves as the highlight of the movie. My only disappointment (and the only real criticism I could make of the movie) is the libby character, who in a movie that messes around with convention, gets played totally straight. She remains a bitch throughout the entire movie, and sticks to being a 2-dimensional, strawman political against conservative christians. For a movie that was so good at challenging perceptions, it was sad to see it pander to others.
Easy A remains true to its chick-flick pedigree, whilst being accessable to guys. Original, insightful and hilarious, I fully recommend this movie to anyone that had the slightest of interest (and hadn't seen it already).