By Matt Schoenman
Saturday, September 18th, 2010. I get out of work at 10 PM. My ladyfriend forces me to go to a late-night movie. The only thing playing this late is Easy A: an obviously female-oriented romantic comedy. Women are always so touched by the main character’s struggle through the hardships of adolescence. It’s annoying. Usually I, like most men, find films that fall into this category to be a total snooze-fest. This includes most of John Hughes’ directorial career (with the exception of Home Alone, that movie is a classic) as well as other films such as A Walk to Remember and Love, Actually. Ugh.
But strangely enough, I felt no wave of dread as I entered the theater. Normally I would be quick to judge and criticize every little thing about the movie. “It’s completely unrealistic,” or “there’s absolutely no character development,” or “where was there any sign of a coherent plot in Twilight?” But these thoughts took a backseat for the entirety of Easy A and I’ll tell you why:
1. Emma Stone is way hotter than I ever thought she could be. Maybe it’s the skimpy attire that she dons throughout for our viewing pleasure. But I actually think her goofy-yet-confident personality plays a role in that attraction, too. Okay, call me lame for saying that, but I definitely think there’s something about that level of quirkiness that is a turn on, at least for me.
2. Minimization of the classical Hollywood love tale. Yes, that’s right: the good ol’ story of “girl gets the man of her dreams” is thrown on the backburner for the tale of “girl’s straight-up social disaster. “ In fact, her main squeeze “Lobster Todd” (played by Penn Badgley) pops in and out of frame only a handful of times; just enough to remind us that he exists. That’s a really good thing, because Penn Badgley has no personality. Of course, in the end Olive (that’s the main character’s name by the way…took this long to remember it) does get her man, but that’s really just a side note to the innocent high school girl’s colossal screw-ups.
3. Stanley Tucci is just retardedly funny. Never thought I would live to see the day when I would approve of the creepy, murderous pedophile from The Lovely Bones (yet another movie forced upon me by my ladyfriend). It just seems like he never got too serious about playing the role of Olive’s father, and it worked out because it creates a casual hilarity that doesn’t seem too forced. In fact, the girl’s whole family has a strange chemistry that I wish I saw in more rom-coms.
Naturally, the film also had its weak points. One of which is the fact that the only sex that occurs is imaginary. Damn PG-13 crap. Another is its awkwardly forced plotline: silly nonsensical events prompting each evolution of Olive’s make-believe sluttiness. But it shines in the originality department, and it most definitely did not leave me snoring and drooling in my seat. As far as romantic-comedies go, this one gets a solid B+ in my book.
