Review - Easy A

 I saw the trailer for this movie and laughed at the dry sarcastic humor. It sounded like a cheesy premise but the writing (at least from the trailer) seemed humorous and so it motivated Lynette and I enough to make a trip to see it on a matinee.


I was a little worried that the plot would be paper thin, the characters would be lame and the extent of the humor would be from the clips in the preview.




Fortunately, I was wrong.

The plot was pretty thin, but as a cheesy teenage romantic comedy, I'm not expecting screenplay of the year or anything. Still, the concept was intriguing and some of the elements were quirky and unpredictable.

The characters were a lot of fun and deeper than I thought. The main character, Olive, was well portrayed and Emma Stone did a fabulous job bringing her to life.

But what I was most pleased with was the writing. There were tons and tons and tons of sarcastic one-liners that just made me chuckle. Olive's responses to everyone around here were just so perfectly priceless it was hard not to laugh. Her parents were equally zany with all sorts of crazy comments to add to the humor. I especially loved the "I'm adopted" scene.

Part of the movie suggested that this film is at least partially a homage to the classic John Hughes films of the ~80s. And they played up the tribute to the nines complete with a great soundtrack and iconic moments from classic Hughes movies.

In the end, this certainly isn't "film of the year" material. I personally feel like it has the potential to become an iconic teenage romance film. Unfortunately, even with the contemporary pop culture elements (internet, cell phones, texting, tweating, blogging, etc.), it would likely be better received by teens of the ~80s than those today. I could be wrong (and hope I am) but I fear that the target teenage audience of today will be less receptive to this wonderfully fun bubble gum film than the (maybe?) unintended audience of thirty-somethings who grew up loving Hughes's movies.

If you enjoy sugar-laced teenage romance (with a hint of a moral) or have any nostalgia for the fun loving youthful films of the 80s, then you should check this one out.


3.5 out of 5 stars