Easy A

Easy A is clearly trying to do for "The Scarlett Letter" what Clueless did for "Emma" and 10 Things I Hate About You did for "The Taming of the Shrew."  However, there’s just one slight difference between Easy A and those other films: it actually has a brain.

Don’t get me wrong, Clueless had an indelible impact on American society in the mid-‘90s (what that says about American society is another story) and I don’t like to rag on any film starring the late Mr. Ledger, but Easy A is smart, witty, at-times hysterical and is anchored in earnest truth.

The film is extremely fortunate to have Emma Stone in the lead role.  Stone, who we’ve all seen in Superbad and Zombieland, oozes with geeky sexuality while blurting out intelligent, not-so-PG-13-friendly dialogue in a role that is certain to make her a star.

Stone plays Olive, a carefree high school senior who, after attempting to do right by a friend, is quickly turned into the school slut.  Problem is, Olive’s a virgin, hell she’s never even kissed a guy.  But her high school peers perceive her as a tramp, and we all know what the high school thought process tells us: they think, therefore I am.

After Olive’s “whoring” antics quickly spin out of control (due much in part to her playing it up), she confesses her falsified sins via a webcast, which, of course, everyone in the school watches.

Look, is it all a little too cutesy and convenient?  God yes.  But, unlike most of its chick flick counterparts, Easy A has a well-working intellect.  Credit need first be placed on Stone but then on Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, who play Stone’s breezy, happy-go-lucky, California liberal parents.

I’ve since read that Tucci and Clarkson only spent three days on set, and all the better, because their scenes, and almost every line of their dialogue, had me chuckling.  A few lines, Tucci’s in particular, had me laughing at loud.

I can’t remember the last time a high school-set comedy made me do that.  B-