Easy A Reviews
Easy A
Posted : 10 months, 2 weeks ago on 2 July 2023 02:061 comments, Reply to this entry
Easy A
Posted : 1 year ago on 24 April 2023 05:370 comments, Reply to this entry
Easy A review
Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 19 December 2022 08:590 comments, Reply to this entry
Easy A review
Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 19 December 2022 08:540 comments, Reply to this entry
Easy A review
Posted : 5 years ago on 22 April 2019 09:54The plot seems simple on the surface: A young girl's lie spirals out of control and she is labeled as more than promiscuous by her peers. In spite of this, she ardently (and selflessly) embraces the rumor and soon finds herself in a maelstrom of criticism and gossip that reveals more about those around her than herself in.
Lo and behold, I ended up pleasantly surprised at how utterly enjoyable and amusing "Easy A" actually turned out to be. My fears of it being shallow teen fodder were instantly cast away and I quickly found myself settling into the witty dialogue and, more so, its clever update of one of literature's classics "The Scarlet Letter".
Although the latter element was one of the film's selling points, it takes something special to make something as audacious as an update of a classic set of ideas and themes and have it work, much less prove relevant to the original work AND modern times. To top it all off, it does all this while never losing its own particular identity as a comedic film. It also admirably manages to delve deeply into many of aforementioned themes without being slavishly bound to them, a sin that would of the made the film woefully dreary.
Yes, "Easy A" is film that sets out to make a big statement about people's perception and the effects of social stigmas but, unlike, its inspiration, it doesn't martyrize its protagonist to do so, instead it smacks a smile on your face and gives you the two sides of the coin. Surprisingly, using teen movie tropes and archetypes end up servicing this goal exceptionally well and it was quite satisfying to see the movie turn expected circumstances on their head and do something unique with them.
Emma Stone as the defacto would-be Hester Prynn , Olive, possesses such a natural charm and timing that just oozes off the screen. She's a delight to watch as the snarky and smart lead and, really, it's hard to imagine the movie being as effective had someone with that much talent not filled that particular role. She really carries the movie on her shoulders. That's not to say that the rest of the cast are slouches. Quite the contrary, everyone is sharp and on their game here.
The filmmakers clearly had a great love of John Hughes movies and tones and tropes from those are also weaved into the film's tapestry that inform the viewer or pay homage to one of the greats of teen cinema. Though i wouldn't compare "Easy A" to a Hughes film as their ultimate intent and styles differ, I did find the references appropriate not only narratively but in the sense that much like a Hughes films there's a timeless feeling to this one. Indeed, "Easy A" has loftier goals but, more than that, it appeals to people of all ages despite its target audience. This is a movie that could easily be shown as part of a curriculum to inform students on the subtext of writing while never once boring them.
"Easy A" never sinks to comedic depths to get its laughs and expertly avoids a lot of the trappings of sub-par comedy films. Instead, it remains distinctly clever and subtle in its delivery and, for that reason, it will age fantastically. As I write this nearly a decade has passed since it's release and it remains fresh and prescient.
I'm glad to have watched and I'm glad to say that I'll be adding it to my rotation of movies that I'll watch again. It's a comfortable movie that way. I give Easy A a 8.5/10
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More like Easy F-minus...
Posted : 8 years, 1 month ago on 9 April 2016 02:08To begin with, there areย way too many aggravating pop culture references sprinkled throughout the film. Now,ย I don't always mind pop culture references in movies; sometimes I even enjoy them.ย But in this case, lines such as "I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me" -- said by a teenage girl (because that's how all teenage girls talk, after all) --ย come across as very "written", rather than natural. All of the pop culture references in 'Easy A' smack of the screenwriter injecting his own personal tastes into the script; none of them feel authentic.
Then there are the characters; I pretty much hated all of them. Same goes for the performances.ย
Some of the onscreen portrayals are simply uninteresting (please go back to "Gossip Girl", Penn Badgley); some are rather unlikable (yes, that includes Emma Stone as the lead character "Olive"; I am not a fan of snarky teenage heroines). And some are utterly reprehensible -- namely, Amanda Bynes as "Marianne", aka the token "evil Christian." Because, of course, that's SO VERY ORIGINAL ย for Hollywood; no movie has ever depicted Christians as sanctimonious and judgmental before (because, of course, all Christians act just like Marianne!). The movie doesn't even try to "complicate" Marianne by giving her a "softer side" -- or any other personality trait other than "ridiculous caricature."
On top of everything else, 'Easy A' is also quite boring. It's so boring, in fact, that it eventually put me to sleep!
I probably don't need to bother mentioning that I didn't go back to watch the scenes that I'd missed after I feel asleep, nor do I have any desire to do so; you couldn't pay me to spend another minute on this crap. (1/10)
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A for Awful.
Posted : 9 years, 6 months ago on 31 October 2014 06:38I mean i'm all for freedom of opinions but it makes me mad to see such low standards for comedy, Easy A is a horrible high school flick that wasn't funny at all. even horrible movies can make me laugh some times, this one, never, i wasn't even amused by it, i was just repulsed and annoyed and kept looking at my watch, it's a sorry excuse for a comedy sold entirely on Emma Stone likability, they didn't even bother to write a funny script, and they managed to have so many good actors, but never use that to make the movie better.
It start with Emma stone playing as a high school student, narrating her story to the audience, looking at the screen constantly, because, you know, what's the point of having Emma stone if she didn't talk to the audience. she basically tells the story on how she turned from a unknown student to the most popular girl in school to the slut that everybody hates, the story is told with little effort, horrible acting, no depth to characters at all, some horrible editing in which the actor is talking but when the angle change, you can see from the back of his head, that he's not talking, it reminded me of cheesy low budget sitcoms, it also had some very bad lip-syncing and the whole production looked very immature and mashed together in effortless kinda way.
The movie had so many comedy cliches, and so many high school cliches, like the inappropriate parents, the very supportive not-caring parents, the shallow best friend, ect... and the story wasn't interesting at all, it's even worse with the main protagonist as Emma stone played it too cool for her character, it was like she's very mature for a high school student, she wasn't even in the character, it's like she's playing herself, kinda Like George Clooney in 'Batman & Robin', and the script looks overly written, as if the writer wasn't actually writing it with a high school mentality, even worse, was some random lines slapped here and there to make cheap laughs, like Emma's father (Stanley Tucci) asking his adopted son, "so, where are you from", or some random inappropriate conversation between Emma and her mom at the end, it's all very not funny, and random.
As i said before the entire movie was based on the likability of Emma stone, they didn't even bother to invest in a funny script, or funny jokes or interesting characters, which means, if you like Emma, then you're going to adore everything she says, and you will think it's funny, and i like Emma stone, i just don't like the character she was playing, that's why the movie was not funny at all to me, furthermore, the movie never makes usage of the many respectable supporting actors and actresses like Thomas Haden Church, Malcolm McDowell, Stanley Tucci and Lisa Kudrow. the script made them all corny and bad or just not interesting, and Amanda Bynes in this movie, which takes the awfulness into a whole other level.
The movie didn't have the decency to have an original score, instead, they purchased a bunch of old songs and slapped them together which was so lazy and pointless, and it gives the impression of a cheesy teen movie, even though they tried to hide that sense.
Overall, it's very immature (yes, even for teenagers), lazy, with a horrible script, awful performances, and based entirely on Emma stone, and a bad example for teenagers, as the movie didn't address the whole point of the confession it based on.
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Easy A review
Posted : 11 years ago on 5 May 2013 05:190 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 11 years, 9 months ago on 13 August 2012 12:590 comments, Reply to this entry
Easy A review
Posted : 12 years, 1 month ago on 24 March 2012 04:040 comments, Reply to this entry