Review Fridays
Easy A

I've changed the name of Book Fridays to Review Fridays because they were always meant to be either a book or movie review. Anyway, a few weeks ago I saw the movie Easy A, but haven't had the chance to review it.

Trailer



Overview (No Spoilers)

Overall, it's the best teen movie I've seen in years. Of course, it would be fair to say that I haven't seen many, if any, teen movies in the past several years. But still, a thoroughly enjoyable film which I highly suspect is the best in a while. When I first saw the trailer I knew I wanted to see the film. I dunno, maybe it's just that I enjoy the song, Pokerface. Or maybe it's because Emma Stone is smokin' hot. Her hair isn't naturally red but she certainly looks good that way, and I have a weakness for redheads. I saw that she was rumored to be in the reboot of Spider-man, and if they plan on making her Mary Jane, I might actually like Mary Jane. Or at least understand a lot better why Spider-man likes her.

Anyway, the story looked like lots of fun as well. Not exactly profound but it looked like it had the potential to be fun, and I'm happy to say that it exceeded my expectations. It actually managed to be more than just laughs but also, to a moderate extent, explore the theme of identity and how we define ourselves by others' opinions of us. I also liked the characters and thought they did a rather good job fleshing most of them out.

Spoilers

I really liked how unconventional but still happy and functional Olive's family was. It seems so often that unconventional families in modern media are usually dysfunctional. So it was great to see Olive's healthy relationship with her mother, step-father, and adoptive brother. On the other hand they weren't boring either and it was great that being functional didn't mean they had to be the Cleavers.

On the other hand, I wasn't sure how I felt about the film's stance on the actual adultery. I don't really think it was a bad thing that her English teacher finally learned the truth about his wife. I can see where you might make the case that it was more altruistic of Olive to keep the secret even when it hurt her. But I think it was clear there were deeper issues in the marriage. If it had been more of a one time thing that was never going to happen again and the marriage was otherwise fine, then maybe it would have been better left unsaid. But since I don't think that woman got Chlamydia from Christian dude or her husband (who she said she hadn't had sex with in some time) it's clear this was not by any means a one time thing.

The romance in the film was also sweet, but for once I liked the other aspects of the film more and found Olive's journey more interesting than her happy ending.