It's easy to like a character, but it isn't often you come across one that you would want to actually be friends with, or maybe even wish you could be like. For me, such a character is Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone), a high-school student from Ojai, California. True, she may only be a fictional character, but she's also the embodiment of personality - smart, witty, and affable, yet not so perfect or above it all that she fails to be human. Despite these magnetic qualities, she isn't noticed much by her peers, and she's all but upstaged by her best friend (Aly Michalka), who makes it a point to believe only what she wants to believe instead of actually listening to the truth. Things drastically change for Olive when she gains an infamous reputation as the school floozy, something she didn't start but certainly chose to perpetuate.

Her story is told in "Easy A," which is not only one of the funniest teen comedies of recent memory, but is also one of the most intelligent. Rather than go for obvious lowbrow sex and booze toilet humor, director Will Gluck and writer Bert V. Royal show the temerity to engage the audience with clever dialogue, strong characters, and a plot we can actually care about. It doesn't play down to the audience. If we laugh, it's not because of a vulgar throwaway gag but because of genuinely funny scenarios, many of which are relatable to varying degrees. Perhaps the film is founded on an extraordinary premise, but in my mind, it's a perfectly plausible premise, and the fact that the filmmakers could keep the story grounded while making it entertaining is quite an amazing achievement.

Olive's infamy begins when she lies about having lost her virginity over the weekend to a college student she made up. The lie is overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), a judgmental and pious Little Miss Christian, who proceeds to tell everyone she knows about Olive's indiscretion. Rumors quickly spread. Other students begin to take notice of her, and although she never asked for her newfound reputation, she finds she's appreciating the attention. She's then approached by her gay friend, Brandon (Dan Byrd), who's so tired of being harassed by homophobic bullies that he begs her to pretend to have sex with him. Knowing that no one would believe her if she simply told people about it, Olive drags Brandon to a classmate's party, where they lock themselves in a bedroom and make all the necessary noises. Everyone is fooled.

This includes Marianne and her circle of Christian friends, one of whom boldly suggests that Olive follow the lead of Hester Prynne in "The Scarlett Letter" and mark herself. Not content with doing things half-heartedly, Olive arrives at school the next day wearing a bustier with a red A affixed to the right breast. In due time, she's approached by other boys who want Olive to do for them what she did for Brandon; she agrees to help them all, although she's well aware that the situation is getting out of hand. It's bad enough that they're using her to inflate their egos. Why must they also compensate her with gift certificates and coupons to affordable stores like The Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond?

The ads have prepared us to view Olive as a cliché - a wisecracking teen who never shows her emotions and flaunts her superior intellect in the form of biting sarcasm and dry wit. But we end up seeing nothing of the sort. Olive is a young woman of considerable depth, jokey on the outside but within harboring needs, hopes, and deep insecurities. They emerge during scenes with the school mascot, Woodchuck Todd (Penn Badgley), the one guy who has known Olive most of her life and sees the person behind the reputation. Through him, she comes to believe that regaining her self-respect depends on tracking down each of the boys she helped and coercing them into telling the truth. This proves far more difficult than she expected. It's just as well; the root of "self-respect" is "self," which is to say no one other than her can turn the situation around.

Other characters, such as Olive's loveably liberal parents (Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci) and her perpetually flustered school principal (Malcolm McDowell), add color to the story, even if they are a bit less three-dimensional and serve mostly as comedy relief. The English teacher, Mr. Griffith (Thomas Hayden Church), is not only as witty and charming as Olive but is also remarkably perceptive; the same cannot be said about Mr. Griffith's estranged wife (Lisa Kudrow), which is ironic since she's the school's guidance counselor. I don't want to reveal too much about this couple. Let it suffice to say that Olive's actions have consequences that extend beyond the limits of the student body.

The film is told as a retrospective, Olive opening the film with a webcam confessional that continuously weaves in and out of the story proper. This is far from an original narrative technique, but Stone's performance and Royal's dialogue elevates it to new heights. Right at the start, we're drawn to this character, and we want to stay near her even after the story has come to an end. Not too many roles have this kind of power. Not too many teen comedies are this well written. "Easy A" is a sweet, sassy, ingenious little movie, one that I hope will not be forgotten ten years from now.

Easy A is the story of Olive, a nobody in high school whose life suddenly goes from silent to scandalous thanks to a cycle of rumours. As her reputation goes from non-existent to total trollop, Olive begins to dress the part, wearing sexy outfits with a crimson "A" embroidered on them (yes, this is Scarlet Letter-status, only without Demi Moore's fake British accent). As she lies to help boost other people's confidence, she starts to learn that just because you're well-known, doesn't mean people like you.
Overall, the story is light and quirky, with enough John Hughes references to satisfy even the biggest Brat Pack lovers. The jokes are fresh, and the cast is excellent, keeping this fairly well-paced film entertaining from start to finish. The cast has excellent chemistry, and the characters all seem to be believable. This is even a film you can watch more than once, and it still hold the same charm and humour.
If you're looking for a fun comedy full of great performances and an ever-so-slightly nostalgic feel, Easy A belongs on your DVD shelf.

Easy A (Will Gluck, 2010)

I usually see movies alone, but every once in a while we do the family-movie thing, which generally limits my choices. It usually takes forever to decide on something when we do this, but sometimes it all ends up working out well. This was one of those times. I had some ideas about Easy A going into it that were as wrong as could be; I saw the name (I'd never seen trailers for it) and assumed it was one of those "your classmate dies and everyone gets a good grade" kinds of things. No, and thank heaven for that. It is something much different, and a good deal better than any of those (with the arguable exception of The Curve).

Olive Penderghast (Zombieland's Emma Stone) is your typical invisible high schooler, noticed only by her best friend Rhiannon (Phil of the Future's Alyson Michalka). Things change when Olive, spinning a very tall tale for Rhiannon in the bathroom as an excuse to get out of a camping trip, is overheard by Marianne (Hairspray's Amanda Bynes), the head of the ultra-Christian contingent of the student body, who starts the rumor mill flying. Olive decides to adopt the "if you can't beat 'em" attitude and dressing the part (without ever actually doing anything actually, you know, salacious). All is well and good until she confesses the lie to Brandon (Cougar Town's Dan Byrd), the school's only gay teen, who hatches a plan; since Olive is not only straight, but now seen as a tramp, telling people he's been with her could give his image a makeover, too. She agrees to help, but the consequences are much father-reaching than she could ever have anticipated.

The synopsis doesn't get you anywhere close to the great cast this movie supports. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson play Olive's parents (Dill and Rosemary, no less), and are the best part about the movie every time they're on the screen. Thomas Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow play a husband-and-wife English teacher and guidance counselor at Olive's high school. Cam Gigandet takes a break from doing below-average horror flicks to take a turn as Marianne's boyfriend, a 22-year-old who's repeating senior year for the fourth time. This is good stuff indeed from a casting perspective, but how's the script? It's hard to believe this is Bert Royal's first feature; this is as sharp and as witty as the John Hughes movies Olive idolizes. (The Quizno's guy, and nice product placement there by the by, is as funny as the ball-waxer in Gutterballs, and that's saying something for a guy who has two lines; for the record it's Rawson Thurber, director of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.)

Sure, the movie has its problems. It's a teen comedy John Hughes-style, of course it has its problems. There are a number of times when the script could have gone in very interesting directions and instead chose to go the conventional route (especially where Marianne is concerned; she could have been an interesting character, but instead remains a one-dimensional object of audience ridicule), for example. And when did the clause in Patricia Clarkson's contract that required a nude scene in every movie run out? Someone's got to get that renewed. But for all that, it's smart, it's funny, and you should give it a look. *** ½