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Olive (Emma Stone) narrates her own version of how she earned a scarlet letter in the high school comedy “Easy A.” |
Emma Stone possesses soft, come-hither eyes that could drink in the oceans, a sexually playful, raw, husky voice that could melt icebergs, and a feminine fragility that summons forth the protector in males.
“Easy A” fulfills the promise that this remarkable young actress showed in the horror/comedy “Zombieland.” She single-handedly carries her sassy new high school sex comedy with crates of confidence, charisma and charm.
In “Easy A” (also one of the smartest, cleverest titles in recent years), Stone tosses out a career-making performance fraught with conflicting emotions, torn loyalties and adolescent confusion, all built upon a foundation of Christ-like good will toward men.
Stone’s seemingly effortless performance does wonders to cover the sins of the movie, such as a weak, tentative use of her character as a Christ symbol, the ridiculous overuse of the word “awesome!” (nine times) and a blatant pandering to 1980s nostalgia at the cost of the story’s unnecessarily sacrificed originality.
Stone plays Olive Pendergast, a high schoolgirl who narrates her story via a streaming broadcast from her computer. She lays out everything that has happened, complete with chapter titles.
One day in the restroom, Olive’s best pal Rhia (Aly Michalka) pushes her hard to find out what she did on the weekend. To shut her up, Olive tells a white lie: She lost her virginity to a college guy.
Faster than you can run around the campus with a super-speeded-up camera lens, rumors spread that Olive has become a woman.
This works well thematically for Olive, who’s studying Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” in English class, taught by the cool Mr. Griffith (Thomas Hayden Church). (Read more…)