The movie centers around Olive, played by Emma Stone, the good yet forgettable California high school student. One day a seemingly harmless lie about her love life turns everything upside down when she suddenly has a reputation she never imagined. She puts her newfound reputation to use and then propels herself into infamy while ironically studying the Scarlet Letter in English class. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson play her parents with Lisa Kudrow, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Hayden Church , Cam Gigandet, and Alyson Michalka rounding out the rest of the cast.
The plot was fresh and unique with tons of witty retorts, with many from Miss Stone. There was a nice amount smart humor in this movie. The screenplay had originally been written with an R rating however over 50 ‘f’ and ‘c’ words were later removed to give it it’s PG13 rating which was their target audience. I wish that hadn’t been done, however I see the business sense behind the decision. The movie plays on cliché’s and actually employs numerous clichés itself in an openly ironic way. It may come across as a fluff script, but I found the writing very clever. The plot flows with great twists and turns. The Olive character is very engaging and likeable. The best part of the movie was most definitely the dialogue. I enjoyed how the movie was semi-plausible and played on the aspect of numerous movie cliché’s throughout without being a straight parody, which is a hard thing to do. Most movies, especially high school ones, are usually either full of unbelievable clichés and if not, they are usually laughable parodies of the aforementioned cliché-ridden movies. It was also an idea that hasn’t really been seen before and it did actually convey a good message at the end.
The editing was perfectly paced to keep the humor alive throughout the movie. There were several beats in the beginning which were a little off pace, but hardly noticeable. There were also a couple of slow motion clips which were not done at the right frame ratios and came out a little jumpy, in my opinion, but again I’m just being picky. The soundtrack worked very well with the mood and action of the movie, and I’ve now added it to my soundtrack collection. I really enjoyed the look of this movie with the costume and set design as they were very vibrant and kept a fresh feeling throughout. And the opening titling sequence was also very nice and creative.
The movie was carried by Emma Stone, plain and simple, and she did a fantastic job. She dropped out of Sucker Punch, releasing next year, to do this movie. Some have criticized that decision but I think it was the right decision to move from an ensemble piece to a lead role. To date, she hasn’t been given a movie to carry on her own (Zombieland, House Bunny, etc) and this proves she can do it. She really has a knack for comedy and is truly genuine in everything she does. I’m not sure anyone else could’ve done this role better as she is obviously extremely smart and quick-witted. That’s not to say that the rest of the actors were lost in the background or didn’t add any humor. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, were simply priceless and I loved watching them play off one another. I’m a die-hard Friends fan and so I of course love Lisa Kudrow, although I wish her character had been written a little less depressing.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie throughout. I was expecting a really great movie and it actually went in a different direction than I had anticipated but I still liked it. It made fun of itself at times and took direct references at our beloved 80’s movies which is always a cool thing in my book. The movie had a lot to say about our society in this digital age without becoming overbearing. I was very happy with this movie and I’ll come out and say it was better than Mean Girls. I agree with the gotchamovies that it’s the best teen comedy of the decade because of its ability to not play into the cliché’s without becoming a parody while having a relevant social commentary at the same time along with charismatic witty actors. And to those that may say, ‘Aren’t you forgetting Superbad’; While Superbad was no doubt hilarious, it wasn’t able to pull off the same social commentaries and stabs at overabundant clichés as this movie did. I know that's a bold statement but I think I'm willing to go out on a limb with this one. I’d recommend to anyone looking for a good comedy as I think everyone can relate to this time in one’s life and who doesn’t love Emma Stone? Disclaimer: I’d like to apologize for using the word ‘cliché’ so many times in this review. “I had a similar situation when I was your age. I had a horrible reputation. – Why? – Because I slept with a whole bunch of people. Mostly guys. – Mom!” – Easy A.
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