Olive Pendergast (Emma Stone) is a smart and sassy California high school student who keeps a low profile among her peers. Her mother (Patricia Clarkson) and father (Stanley Tucci) are liberal, funny, and witty parents who steadfastly support her stubborn individuality and creativity. Her best friend, Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), is a looker who is worried about Olive's sexual inexperience, and when she pushes this button again, Olive decides to fabricate a story about losing her virginity over the weekend with a college boy. The only trouble is that this lie is overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), a fundamentalist Christian. Like wildfire the news spreads across the campus and Olive is branded a slut. Although Rhiannon congratulates her friend for losing her virginity ("V-card"), everyone else revels in the gossip which gathers new twists as it spreads.
Then a strange thing happens: A closeted homosexual who is persecuted turns to Olive for help, and they pretend to be getting it on in a bedroom at a well-attended party. An overweight loser follows, and soon Olive has become the savior to the school's male rejects and losers. Rumors spread about "Olive the bimbo," as she continues her service, getting payment in the form of gift cards to various chains and superstores. Olive even takes the blame when Mrs. Griffith (Lisa Kudrow), the school's guidance counselor, has an affair with a student and is about to lose her husband (Thomas Haden Church) and job. Add to this that many of the students are reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, so Olive decides to create her own clothing make-over with an "A" on her blouse.
Easy A is an imaginative and frolicsome comedy that is very appealing on many different levels. The screenplay by Bert V. Royal is funny and clever. For example, Olive decides to read the Bible and asks the bookstore clerk where to find it: in the bestseller section next to Twilight. Emma Stone gives a tour-de-force comic performance similar to the one by Reese Witherspoon in Election.
It is so refreshing to see an intelligent young woman try to work her way through a tough situation of her own making. It is also quite pleasing to think about Olive as a Jesus figure who helps bring losers and pariahs into the center circle. Her service to others is contrasted with the judgmental actions of Marianne and her conservative Christian friends who separate themselves from others by condemning them to hell. Best of all is the way Easy A gives imagination, pluck, and playfulness a good name!
Special features on the DVD include a gag reel; Emma Stone's audition footage; and a commentary with director Will Gluck and Emma Stone.
