An Easy C-
Olive Penderghast is an average, good-girl teenager who suddenly finds herself the subject of a nasty rumor that tags her as a girl who 'sleeps around'. She should be horrified. She should feel terrible. She should immediately try to save her good name. Instead, she's intrigued, she feels important and she spurs the rumors on. Because if they're just rumors, who does it really hurt anyway?
One of my guilty pleasures is a good high school romantic comedy to watch while the hubby is out of town. I like the light hearted romance and the airy comedy that pokes fun at how out of touch and lame high school kids can be. As an adult watching Easy A and reviewing it for other adults (who like a good high school RomCom) I'd say this one was alright. Not the best one I've seen but it did have some quick, witty dialogue and referred to some good literature (namely Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter). Plus it had the added bonus of Stanley Tucci playing Olive's Dad and the banter between him and Patricia Clarkson (playing Olive's mom) were the funniest moments in the movie.
As an adult watching this movie knowing that it was geared toward teenagers, I hated it. Olive made some really bad decisions, said some really nasty things and got involved with some pretty heavy issues for a teen aged girl.
Here's the Report Card on Easy A:
Witty Dialogue B
Character Casting ACostumes D-
Music C
Literary Interpretation B-
Acting A-
Musical Numbers F
Overall Content D
Motherly Advice: Even though the filters do an excellent job of cutting out a lot of truly filthy language here, the mind does a lot of guessing on it's own with this one. Olive wears immodest outfits in just about every scene in the movie and I have to ask, "Is this really realistic for High school these days? I have a hard time believing schools have no dress code at all anymore." Also, there were some open references to one of the (adult aged) characters getting chlamydia from one of the teachers. Lastly is the topic of Olive's parents. Her parents are very 'cool' but also very uninvolved in what was going on. I don't have teenagers yet, but I don't think I would be okay with my daughter handling these issues without some adult help...or at least some advice! So, because of a scantily clad wardrobe and heavy sexual topics I'm putting this movie as a PG-17.
Danielle'- High School Movie Guidance Counselor
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