Easy A Bluray

Posted In: Easy A

Marinda Yozamp says...

I first heard about Easy A from Entertainment Weekly, which didn't give it that great of a grade. But when Saturday night rolled around and I didn't have anything to do, I thought why not spend a night at the movie theater. Easy A was the only thing at the theater that didn't involve talking owls, animated dogs, a murderer, or Betty White so it won by default. Yet after seeing it, I think this movie stands on its own and doesn't need to be someone's default.



The story follows a high school student named Olive who isn't the most popular girl in school but isn't really looking to be the talk of the school. When the weekend comes, her best friend invites her to go camping but Olive just wants to spend the weekend at home. Olive decides to lie to her friend and tells her that she has a date that weekend. At school on Monday, Olive's best friend pesters Olive about her imaginary date until Olive says that they had sex. Word gets around school and suddenly Olive is the talk of the high school. One of Olive's friends hears about the rumor which Olive confesses is not true. However, her friend does not care for he is being bullied about being gay and wants to prove to the school that he's not. So he and Olive attend a popular party where they secure and room and pretend to have sex so that entire party can hear. The next day at school the rumors about the boy's sexuality are cast aside while Olive becomes the main attraction. Olive continues to have fake sex with numerous boys in school so that it will help their reputation. Yet, the backlash causes Olive to become ostracized as she finds that though she believes she is helping these boys, she is not being true to herself.



First let me get out of the way my complaints with the film, which are few:

1. the plot is a bit contrived

2. the acting is not exceptional

3. the connection between the students reading The Scarlett Letter and Olive's being ostracized (to the point of wearing a scarlet A) is about a subtle as an anvil falling on one's head



But many tween movies are criticized for the same problems in script and acting, so I don't want to elaborate more on it here. Still, the good in this film completely outweighs the bad. These are a few of the things that I think separate this film from other asinine dopey chick flix:

1. this is NOT (thank god) a coming of age tale

2. there is little romance and some good comedy

3. it is not self righteous in its message



I think that the message of this film is very good and not something that you see everyday. Most teen films are about falling in love with the person you thought you hated (when does that ever really happen?) or being led astray by the glitter and false happiness of popularity. However, this movie is about how doing something that seems altruistic can actually come back to hurt you and others. It's about helping others while never losing your sense of self. And who doesn't like a couple chuckles while learning a solid life lesson? I certainly do!

Posted on May 17, 2011

Sebrina Nanton says...

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. ***

Posted on May 18, 2011

Billy Tatom says...

'Easy A' could possibly be that breath of fresh air we all have been longing for from the high school satire genre.What we are given is a talented lead actress, clever and witty humor, and a movie that isa great addition to a line of high school comedies.



Emma Stone gives a star-breaking performance as Olive Penderghast, a smart and genuine character that is portrayed as a wallflower to her fellow high school peers, but knows her way around the books. Her sharp dialect and personality is what makes her stand out from other leading protagonists. Her life turns out of control when she lies about losing her virginity and is overheard by the school's Christian dictator, Marianne, played by Amanda Bynes. From there, she uses the rumor mill to her advantage, and to others advantage as well, soliciting pretend sex in-exchange for gift-cards and a higher social status. Thinking of her reputation, she embroids a red "A" on her wardrobe to model off the Scarlet Letter, a book she is currently studying in English.



'Easy A' features an excellent ensemble cast featuring Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as Olive's hilarious parents and Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley as Woodchuck Todd. Director Will Gluck accomplishes at bringing an intelligent script to life with striking and visual appeal of Ojai, California. The film also features an excellent post-modern rock and alternative soundtrack featuring Angus and Julia Stone, Lenka, and Sweet Thing, that helps the movie flow quite nicely. In the end, 'Easy A' is one of the biggest surprises of the year that is worth the ticket price.



Jordan Utz, 5 Stars

Posted on May 18, 2011

Janeth Borysewicz says...

Every year Hollywood releases a few teen movies. If you're like me, it gets like watching the same movie over and over.Not so with Easy A. It manages to be smart funny and original, and appeal to a much wider audience than just teens.



Olive Prendergast is a smart good girl with the clean reputation.When she fibs to a friend about an intimate weekend with an imaginary boyfriend, and another girl overheards, it sets in motion a series of events that speak volumes about high school life.



Her flawless reputation is ruined, but she is not bothered by this.In fact, word trickles through the grapevine, boys approach her, ask her to help out their love lives by agreeing to be their pretendgirlfriend, and improve their reputations.At once this movie is part satire and part social commentary.If you have read the recent news about teen suicides, you will realise that your status and how are perceived are both important, in the high school setting.



An interesting analogy is drawn between this movie and the Scarlet Letter, where a woman's reputation is ruined by a scandalous affair and she becomes ostracised and condemend by her community.Olive wears the scarlet letter A with easy pride becoming her own social experiment.She gets ostracised, scolded by the moral police and survives.Ironically, other people get better reputations because of her bad reputation, and that's all it is - reputation.



What strikes me from this movie is the double standard between boys and girls.If a boy gets a certain reputation by rumor he gets high fives, and gains status.You may wonder if she will be able to save her reputation, and how she would save it.It's a good thing to wonder.



Much hypocrisy gets exposed along the way.If you like to watch a movie that goes a little deeper than the usual teen movie, watch this one.It's one of the best I have seen.Emma Stone of Zombieland plays the lead. Amanda Bynes, plays the moral policewoman.Emma Stone does an extraordinary job in the leading role. She reminded me a little of Lindsay Lohan, and not in a bad way.



If you have teens or are a teen, or if you used to be a teen, or intend to be a teen go see this movie.I give an Easy A.

Posted on May 18, 2011

Ulysses Salierno says...

Easy A does in fact make it look easy.In the fifteen odd years since John Hughes was in his prime, there have been many attempts to recreate or extend on the zeitgeist of his movies.I have always considered it a lost art, a relic of the 80's...a flash in the pan of pop culture.Easy A gets very close to this mark while not being slavish and in the process adds a little somethingnew to the mind share of the high school movie.That Easy A does this while also being incredibly aware of the comparison is even more amazing.John Hughes is even referenced by the movies protagonist Olive.She exclaims that her life will not turn out as such...that real life doesn't work that way, an ironic meta joke that sets the rest of the film's tone.



Easy A is a first person point of view narrative, retelling recent events.You learn later that this point of view is a live web cast.The events are set in a generic Southern California high school.Olive, our protagonist, has through her own good intentions, placed herself in a social pickle.Being high school the social issues revolve around sex and friendship.



The entire set up is that Olive pretends to have sex with a gay associate in order to ease his high school social pains.This little white lie sets of a chain of events that spirals out of control.Olive's reputation takes a plunge into the unknown depths of outcast which is widely divergent from her original status as "invisible".Framing this plunge into social wasteland is Olive's English teacher's lesson on the Scarlet Letter...hence the title.Needless to say, events work themselves out.Along the way, Olive's character experiences a crash course introspection.



The film itself is guided on the strength of a strong script with great dialogue.The script is chalk full pop culture references and perhaps more impressive a steady diet of literary references.The fact that the screenwriter Bert V. Royal makes Mark Twain relevant to modern high school life is a tremendous accomplishment.One that I enjoyed immensely.



More than that, Emma Stone gives a tremendous performance.Perhaps the only thing she does poorly is to be "invisible" as she purports during the opening sequence.She is entirely too attractive, lacking the girl next door quality of Molly Ringwald.Regardless, she gives a very nuanced performance; moving from vulnerable, to vixen to verbal assassin with ease.



Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci back up Emma's performance with equally vibrant vigor.The pair serve as Emma's parents and perhaps the only negative I can give is that Stanley Tucci almost overacts his role.But, you can tell that Stanley obviously enjoys his role; wallowing in the script with glee.Thomas Hayden Church gives a performance that exudes warmth in his limited screen time as Olive's high school English teacher.



The weakest part of the movie are the performances given by Emma's high school classmates.But, this does not detract from the movie as the class mates serve as little more than plot points.Their goal was to refocus Olive back into her introspection.



Overall, the movie is engaging. It is filled with an excellent cast that gives a better than expected performance.The script was a surprise.Laden with a copious amount of literary references and smart dialogue, not glib dialogue.Beyond that, this movie was Emma Stone's coming out party.She gives an impressive performance when she could have simply been content to occupy the screen and coast on her looks.Along the way the audience gets a feel good experience that captures a touch of the 80's and the best of modern film.To quote Ferris, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."You could miss this movie as well and that would be a shame.

Posted on May 19, 2011

Mina Ibsen says...

Easy A is about Olive, an average high-school girl who, to get out of a camping trip with her best friend, decides to make up a lie that she's going out with a college guy that weekend.After the rumor spins out of control as the school's Christian mean girl gets a hold of it, she tells everyone!Olive decides to use the rumor as an advantage as people pay her to say that she slept with them.



Easy A is a fantastic movie.It's a comedy-drama that's a mix of the witty dialogue of Juno (You'll be quoting the movie after you're done) with the theme of popularity from Mean Girls along with the Christianity of Saved!The character's are extremely likable.Emma Stone and Amanda Bynes are probably the best characters in this movie along with Olive's parents.The plot deals greatly on today's issues of sexuality and the pressure's of having sex before you're ready.The ending felt rushed but, the rest of the movie was so well done, it didn't have an effect on the rating.I give this movie an Easy five stars!



The special features included on the DVD and Bluray seem like a great extra for the lovers of this movie.

Posted on May 19, 2011

Brittani Leandry says...

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 clich

Posted on May 20, 2011

Hope Ponder says...

I'm the kind of fellow who would view a foreign film with subtitles than watch a formulaic Hollywood production.But on a recommendation, I went to see this movie, and my time was not wasted.The reason it works so well is that the star Emma Stone (as Olive Penderghast) naturally communicates intelligence, charm, and old fashioned girl charisma. By the end of the film, we're not sure whether we want her as a virgin..or not.



Now that we are in the 21st century, the meaning of Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" - the "A" - which stands for adultery is far less scandalous.So when Olive daringly sews such a letter on her dress (over her breast, no less) she communicates a vibrant sexuality. But is that good or bad?



Our heroine is going to high school in a conservative part of Southern California. When Olive tells a white lie that she had a teenage affair, voila...she becomes the "gossip of the day";Suddenly this reclusive girl becomes the one female that everyone notices.Being of good heart - as opposed to her fundamentalist Christian nemesis - she uses this new power to help others' reputations, such as a gay student who is constantly bullied for being so.(The scene where she misleads her classmates to believe she is having 'wild sex" with the gay fellow is hilarious).



The themes of the movie - how society perceives sexuality -how an individual develops a sense of self worth = are important ones.And those themes are handled fluidly by the good ensemble cast. For example, Stanley Tucci as her liberal minded parent is a hoot. (When her mom says that she is starting to look like a hooker, her dad remarks, yes...but a high class hooker.I guess most of us don't have parents "that" open minded.) So for those who "hate" teen comedies...you may be making a mistake by missing this one.

Posted on May 20, 2011

Ermelinda Ogaz says...

"Easy A" is a modern day teenage spoof on the serious work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Scarlet Letter" written in 1850.Emma Stone plays Olive Pendergast, a clean cut high school student who blends in with the crowd. There is nothing special about her, although she is attractive. All of a sudden she becomes the center of attention as the high school rumor mill feeds on a white lie she told a friend about a week-end date with a college student. Olive stayed home with her family that week-end, but upon returning to class the rumor spreads like wildfire and she becomes the center of attention. Olive adamently denies she did anything wrong, but this just adds fuel to the wild stories.Finally she decides to just enjoy her notariety and embrace her new risque image.Other students come to her to help their wild reputation (although everyone is being good - they just want a reputation). They pay her to say she had her way with them. Olive helps the situation by wearing sexy new clothes with a red "A" on her chest. It becomes overwhelming - Olive is the most talked about person now. The rumor mill becomes too much for her and she is afraid it will hurt her family and the only high school relationship she cares about.Olive creates a very modern fun and upbeat solution to her problem.



The film is funny, and sparkles as Emma Stone plays Olive Pendergast with verve, independence and self aware humor.

Posted on May 21, 2011

Margherita Kotyk says...

This movie has to be one of the best movies of 2010 so far! The movie is filled with lots of laughs and goofs. It is a very enjoyable movie with a really good cast, which includes Emma Stone, Aly Michalka, and Amanda Bynes. This movie is similar to an 1980's movie! It is awesome and amazing.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Posted on May 25, 2011