Why So Blu?

There’s No Such Thing As An ‘Easy A’

Easy A is one of those films where let’s face it, if it were not for my wife wanting to see this, I think I could have come up with better ways to spend a free Thursday evening.  But as a critic, it’s your job to subject yourself to torture and to prevent the average “Joe filmgoer” from the pain, misery and suffering, if your advice warrants so.  It sounds so cruel, doesn’t it?  Sometime it is.  So in other words…I did this all for you ladies and gentlemen.  Am I not a nice guy, or what?

The romantic comedy, Easy A, stars the Zombieland killing heroine, Emma Stone, who shares the spotlight along with fellow cast members Penn Badgley, Lisa Kudrow, Thomas Haden Chrurch, Amanda Bynes, Malcolm McDowell, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson and Dan Byrd.  The Will Gluck directed feature was partially inspired by the novel The Scarlet Letter.  But the real question here is whether or not the film was as bad as my initial gut feelings were going into the theater last Thursday evening.  Got a few minutes?  I swear, this won’t take that long.

Like all the Legally Blonde type films before it, Easy A is a chic flick.  There’s no other way to label it.  I can’t imagine a guy really taking anything away from it.  There are a few jokes here or there, but for me, I found myself wondering what time it was too frequently and thinking about how badly I wanted to get home and wash my hair.  Now my wife on the other hand, well that’s a whole different story.  She loved the film.  Again, my words echo…chic flick!

I guess the important thing, when writing and speaking critically, is to separate your personal feelings and judge the film solely on its merits and whether or not it succeeded as an engaging story.  If we are talking in those terms, then yes Easy A succeeded as a story.  It follows the tried and true teenage romantic comedy formula and it definitely wasn’t shy about the references it borrowed from The Scarlet Letter.  In fact, the film mentions the book and the associated films many times throughout.  I guess some may call it a blatant rip-off if they never get to see this, but I thought that was kind of neat, for lack of a better term, how they tied together the “scarlet letter A” that Emma wore on all her outfits and it really lent itself well in explaining the reasons upon which her character based all her actions on and where she got her ideas from.  There’s also a tip of the hat to John Cusack’s Say Anything that I was really happy to see perfectly married within the script, but that’s all I will say about that.

I’ll be the first to admit that Emma Stone hold her own pretty well throughout.  She carried the whole movie.  She did, however, have some help from her crazy parents (Tucci and Clarkson).  While I’m not the biggest fan of Emma, it was nice to see her swim her first time out as a leading actress rather than sink.  My wife, on the other hand, absolutely adored Emma’s performance and all her weird quirks, mannerisms and expressions throughout had my wife in stitches.  You gotta hand it to the girl, Emma is definitely unique in the way she conveys and delivers her lines and actions.  I guess it’s one of those things where you have to see it for yourself, or if you are a guy, then you can just take my word for it.  Oh yeah, and then there’s that Amanda Bynes girl.  If you saw her in Hairspray, then there’s really nothing different about her character here other than the fact, and I could be wrong about this, but I think this was her last outing in a feature film now that she announced her early retirement not so long ago from Hollywood movies.  Bye bye Amanda.  We’ll miss you.  Probably not.

So there you have it folks.  If you are one of the unlucky guys dragged to see this over the weekend with your significant other, then I really feel for you.  I really do.  Here’s an idea girls.  Why don’t you make this film a girls night out, huh?  Let them go see Resident Evil again or play poker while you get your chic on in Easy A.  Sound like a deal?  A rhetorical “yes” is all I’m looking for.  Good!

Screen Gems’ Easy A opens nationwide today, September 17^th.  Enjoy!