Title: "Easy A"
Director: Will Gluck
Producers: W. Gluck and Z. Devine
Editing: Susan Littenberg
Composer: Brad Segal
Starring:
- Emma Stone as Olive Penderghast
- Aly Michalka as Rhiannon "Rhi" Abernathy
- Amanda Bynes as Marianne Bryant
- Penn Badgley as "Woodchuck" Todd
- Thomas Haden Church as Mr. Griffith
- Patricia Clarkson as Rosemary Penderghast
- Stanley Tucci as Dill Penderghast
- Lisa Kudrow as Mrs. Griffith
- Cam Gigandet as Micah
- Malcolm McDowell as Principal Gibbons
Plot and Critical Review: Olive Penderghast lies to her best friend Rhiannon about going on a date in order to get out of camping with her and her hippie parents. The following Monday, pressed by Rhiannon, Olive lies about losing her virginity to a college guy. Marianne, a girl at their school who is a zealous Christian, overhears her telling the lie and "leaks" the lie into the rumor mill. Soon everyone at school knows.
The school has a conservative church group run by Marianne who decides Olive will be their next project. The group's harassment, disguised as concern, comes to a head in English class as Mr. Griffith leads a discussion on The Scarlet Letter, a novel about adultery and shame. When one of the girls from the church group makes a snide comment to Olive, Olive curses her and Mr. Griffith sends her to the Principal's office. During her detention she tells her friend Brandon the truth, that she didn't have sex, and he in turn explains how others bully him because he's gay.
Brandon comes over later and asks Olive to pretend to sleep with him so that he will be accepted by everyone at school. That weekend they pretend to have sex at a party. After she finished with Brandon she bumps into Todd, whom she has had feelings for since the 7th Grade.
After having a fight with Rhiannon over Olive's new identity as a "dirty skank", Olive decides to counteract the harassment by embracing her new image. She begins to wear more provocative clothing and stitches a red 'A' (a la Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter) to everything she wears. Boys who usually have had no luck with girls in the past begin to give her gift cards and money to say they had sex with her in order to increase their own popularity, which in turn increases her reputation.
Olive comes to a short-lived understanding with Marianne, but it is ruined when Marianne's boyfriend Micah gets chlamydia and says (in a lie) that Olive gave it to him. Olive sees Mrs. Griffith, the guidance counselor and Mr. Griffith's wife, who tearfully confesses that she slept with Micah. Olive promises to take the blame to save Mrs. Griffith's job and marriage.
The following day at lunch, Anson comes up to Olive and asks her out. The date goes sour when Olive sees Rhiannon at the restaurant and remembers she has a crush on Anson. In the parking lot, Anson attempts to pay her off; Olive asks what they will say happened but Anson thinks he will actually get sex and tries to kiss her several times. She resists and Anson furiously drives off. Todd sees her and offers to drive her home.
On the ride home Todd tells her that he does not believe the rumor mill, and that he remembers when she lied for him because he wasn't ready for his first kiss. He says he wishes she actually was his first kiss, and not Rhi. Todd then asks for permission to kiss Olive but she says no, wanting to wait until she sorts out her life.
Olive goes to the boys that propositioned her and demands they admit that the rumors are all lies but they refuse. When she goes to Mrs. Griffith to force her to come clean about sleeping with Micah, she refuses and implies that no one would believe Olive over her. Olive runs to Mr. Griffith and tells him the truth but immediately regrets it, knowing she likely destroyed their marriage.
To get everything in the open, she does a song and dance number at a pep rally and pretends she will be doing a sex show via web cam with Todd. In actuality she confesses what she has done. She also makes up with Rhi, apologizing for lying. Just as she is finishing her web cast, Todd appears outside her window, standing by a riding lawnmower and holding two speakers. He asks her to come outside. She leaves the house to kiss him and they ride off on his lawnmower.
"Easy A" flows well for a film of its type. Credit ought to be given to sharp editing and lively music to help convey the youthful spirit of the plot, but in the end it all boils down to Emma Stone's ability to hold the film together with her vulnerable and "sweetheart" acting style. The star of this film really is the star, Emma Stone. Aside from her, I don't have much to offer in the way of technical critique. She does so well, and in marvelous fashion. Stone is an actress we can certainly expect to rise to even greater heights. Her next big step? Filling the role of Gwen Stacy in the upcoming "The Amazing Spider-Man". Said film will premiere on July 2, 2012 if you care to get in line early.
Producers: W. Gluck and Z. Devine
Editing: Susan Littenberg
Composer: Brad Segal
Starring:
- Emma Stone as Olive Penderghast
- Aly Michalka as Rhiannon "Rhi" Abernathy
- Amanda Bynes as Marianne Bryant
- Penn Badgley as "Woodchuck" Todd
- Thomas Haden Church as Mr. Griffith
- Patricia Clarkson as Rosemary Penderghast
- Stanley Tucci as Dill Penderghast
- Lisa Kudrow as Mrs. Griffith
- Cam Gigandet as Micah
- Malcolm McDowell as Principal Gibbons
Plot and Critical Review: Olive Penderghast lies to her best friend Rhiannon about going on a date in order to get out of camping with her and her hippie parents. The following Monday, pressed by Rhiannon, Olive lies about losing her virginity to a college guy. Marianne, a girl at their school who is a zealous Christian, overhears her telling the lie and "leaks" the lie into the rumor mill. Soon everyone at school knows.
The school has a conservative church group run by Marianne who decides Olive will be their next project. The group's harassment, disguised as concern, comes to a head in English class as Mr. Griffith leads a discussion on The Scarlet Letter, a novel about adultery and shame. When one of the girls from the church group makes a snide comment to Olive, Olive curses her and Mr. Griffith sends her to the Principal's office. During her detention she tells her friend Brandon the truth, that she didn't have sex, and he in turn explains how others bully him because he's gay.
Brandon comes over later and asks Olive to pretend to sleep with him so that he will be accepted by everyone at school. That weekend they pretend to have sex at a party. After she finished with Brandon she bumps into Todd, whom she has had feelings for since the 7th Grade.
After having a fight with Rhiannon over Olive's new identity as a "dirty skank", Olive decides to counteract the harassment by embracing her new image. She begins to wear more provocative clothing and stitches a red 'A' (a la Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter) to everything she wears. Boys who usually have had no luck with girls in the past begin to give her gift cards and money to say they had sex with her in order to increase their own popularity, which in turn increases her reputation.
Olive comes to a short-lived understanding with Marianne, but it is ruined when Marianne's boyfriend Micah gets chlamydia and says (in a lie) that Olive gave it to him. Olive sees Mrs. Griffith, the guidance counselor and Mr. Griffith's wife, who tearfully confesses that she slept with Micah. Olive promises to take the blame to save Mrs. Griffith's job and marriage.
The following day at lunch, Anson comes up to Olive and asks her out. The date goes sour when Olive sees Rhiannon at the restaurant and remembers she has a crush on Anson. In the parking lot, Anson attempts to pay her off; Olive asks what they will say happened but Anson thinks he will actually get sex and tries to kiss her several times. She resists and Anson furiously drives off. Todd sees her and offers to drive her home.
On the ride home Todd tells her that he does not believe the rumor mill, and that he remembers when she lied for him because he wasn't ready for his first kiss. He says he wishes she actually was his first kiss, and not Rhi. Todd then asks for permission to kiss Olive but she says no, wanting to wait until she sorts out her life.
Olive goes to the boys that propositioned her and demands they admit that the rumors are all lies but they refuse. When she goes to Mrs. Griffith to force her to come clean about sleeping with Micah, she refuses and implies that no one would believe Olive over her. Olive runs to Mr. Griffith and tells him the truth but immediately regrets it, knowing she likely destroyed their marriage.
To get everything in the open, she does a song and dance number at a pep rally and pretends she will be doing a sex show via web cam with Todd. In actuality she confesses what she has done. She also makes up with Rhi, apologizing for lying. Just as she is finishing her web cast, Todd appears outside her window, standing by a riding lawnmower and holding two speakers. He asks her to come outside. She leaves the house to kiss him and they ride off on his lawnmower.
"Easy A" flows well for a film of its type. Credit ought to be given to sharp editing and lively music to help convey the youthful spirit of the plot, but in the end it all boils down to Emma Stone's ability to hold the film together with her vulnerable and "sweetheart" acting style. The star of this film really is the star, Emma Stone. Aside from her, I don't have much to offer in the way of technical critique. She does so well, and in marvelous fashion. Stone is an actress we can certainly expect to rise to even greater heights. Her next big step? Filling the role of Gwen Stacy in the upcoming "The Amazing Spider-Man". Said film will premiere on July 2, 2012 if you care to get in line early.
My Rating: 5.5/10 (Would have been 5, but i'll give an extra .5 to any movie starring Stanley Tucci.)
Content to Caution:
V-1 - Slapping.
L-1.5 - No comment.
DU-1.5 - Rhi's parent's are seen smoking pot, and some minors drink at a party.
RT-1 - Jokes made about homosexuality may be offensive to some.
H/S-0 -No comment.
CH-2 - Several instances of crude humor relating to sex and general adolescent struggles.
S/N-2 - Oliver wears revealing clothing for the second half of the film. There is a modest amount of discussion about or surrounding the topic of sex.
The "Reel Revelation": "Lies"
It'd have been equally fitting to title this reflection "Escalation", because that's exactly what we watch unfold throughout the course of "Easy A"; Olive's "little lie" growing more and more complex. By the end of the film when the viewer's natural inclination is to feel happy for Olive, at long last in the arms of her beloved, I wonder if we actually remember where the whole chain of events began... It wasn't with Olive's lie (in action) about having sex with Brandon, but when she told Rhi that she had sex with a guy from the local community college. Do you remember the scene? It was only a few minutes long, but within the film's first 10 minutes the seed of deception had been planted.
And why did Olive lie in the first place? What did she have to gain from conjuring up a story of passion and reciting it to her best friend? Olive said it herself; to feel like she had some advantage or level of superiority over Rhi, who seemed more experienced and versed in womanhood than Olive. Rhi initially welcomed Olive's loss of her virginity, but eventually Olive's continued sexual behavior (or what Rhi thought was sexual behavior, even though Olive never touched anyone) drove the two apart. A lie can seem small, even tiny, but it can lead to consequences far beyond our vision. This process, the escalation of a lie, is wonderfully expressed in the song "Lies" from the film "Once". Here's an excerpt:
"I think it's time, we give it up
And figure out what's stopping us
From breathing easy, and talking straight
The way is clear if you're ready now
The volunteer is slowing down
And taking time to save himself
And figure out what's stopping us
From breathing easy, and talking straight
The way is clear if you're ready now
The volunteer is slowing down
And taking time to save himself
And before we knew it was too late
For making circles and telling lies." (Words and Music by Glen Hasard)
Is there a better way to say it? "The little cracks they escalated, and before we knew it was too late..." Have you ever been in that sort of situation, when you suddenly realized a little fib you told a few days before is about to blow up in your face. It can be something simple, even seemingly harmless..."Oh yeah, honey, I got milk when I went out this afternoon." Two days pass and it's your kid's birthday. The party is only a couple of hours away and your sweetie starts to bake the cake. They reach for the milk and, sure enough, it's nowhere to be found. "I thought you said you got milk! We won't be able to finish the cake in time!" Maybe you rush out and buy a cake from the bakery, but you didn't know that that was the last straw, the last "little fib" your sweetheart could stand. You might get a piece of that cake, but you're going to get an earful of something not quite as sweet later on. Uh-oh..."the little cracks...they escalated".
I recognize that is a tiny example, but it does bear witness to how even a seemingly harmless lie can end up doing far more damage than you could have imagined. What about when drastic times call for drastic measures and you're tempted to tell a big lie? Start keeping the truth straight in the small things...you'll find the exercise will help you to move those bigger barriers when you come to them.
Alongside the demon-possessed, crippled, poor, and outcast, Jesus encountered liars. But these liars weren't people on the street trying to make excuses for their sins. They were the intellects and philosophers of the Jewish culture. Here's what Jesus said to a group of them in the Gospel of St. John:
"I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father " Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.You are doing the deeds of your father " They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8: 38-44)
Jesus speaks strongly here, but not so strongly or harshly that we can't hear His loving admonition; if God is our Father we will love the Lord and serve Him. Do you know that God is your Father? Reach out to Him, and ask Him to fill your heart with truth, with the glorious light of His word, and ask Him to shatter the shadows and dispel the darkness of sin within your life. Pray that God will lead us all to the Truth, and grant us the grace and strength to share it in a world of misrepresentation and deceit. He'll do it! He cares you and for all of His children. So pray, and remember that Jesus prayed for you:
"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." (John 17: 13-17)
See you tomorrow - E.T.
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