Day 31- Movie 30. Easy A (2010)

The next movie up is Easy A. I was actually looking forward to this movie. I really think Emma Stone has some real acting ability, and the movie received generally good reviews from most critics. Both accounts proved to be accurate, as this is a funny, entertaining film. The movie is about a high school student (Emma Stone) who inadvertently starts a rumor about her promiscuity, and then embraces the role in which she's cast in the school's rumor mill. It is an interesting concept for a comedy, and it works well to mine it for all the jokes you would expect.

I really think comedies are some of the hardest movies to make. There's such a fine line between a great comedy and a godawful one. So many comedies take the shotgun approach- shoot as many jokes covering a wide range of topics in the hope that at least some of them will hit. This is not a very effective means. I didn't feel like Easy A fell into that trap- it focused on the story and characters first, and was just funny on the way. The jokes never forced the story to change (a common mistake in comedies- the jokes set up the story, rather than the other way around).

One of the major reasons I liked this movie is due to Emma Stone. As I mentioned, I think this young actress is going to be a huge Hollywood star. She was terrific in Zombieland, and gives another memorable, enjoyable performance here. She is going to shoot into the next level of stardom by playing Peter Parker's love interest, Gwen Stacy in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. While at 22, she's a big old to be playing a high school student, she pulls off the part effortlessly.

While I really liked Easy A, there were a few things that bothered me. The main one is that the film casts the people who love Jesus as the bad guys. I understand "Jesus freaks" (that's the movie's description, not mine) are an easy target for the villains, but it just felt weird to me to see people who were trying to be good Christians (however misguided and possibly hypocritical they were), to be painted as the antagonists. It just felt weird. The other issue is a common one in movies set in high school- the films are written by adult writers, so the characters talk with significantly higher vocabulary and intelligence than most 14-18 year olds. Let's be honest- most high school students are pretty stupid. I know I was at that age. While this is a common issue, it bothered me slightly more in this film.

All that being said, Easy A is a very funny comedy. I really enjoyed the movie, and I would highly recommend it. I give this film a solid 7.5/10.

On a slightly different note, I'm genuinely excited about this young batch of actors coming up in Hollywood. I was worried for a few years about the next generation of movie stars, but I feel much better about them now. Actors like Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, and Shia LeBeouf have emerged and have the potential to be big stars for decades, and I generally enjoy them in films. What young actor or actress do you think has the talent to become a real movie star?