Easy A (spoilers)

So, may I just say how pleasantly surprised I was by Easy A? Like, I'd heard good things, but seriously. I don't think I've liked a teen movie this much since 10 Things I Hate About You (and I generally like teen movies quite a bit). I was grinning from ear to ear within the first like ten minutes, and I laughed out loud multiple times. Specifically, I liked (in no particular order)...

...the main character, Olive, singing and dancing around (for supposedly a whole weekend straight) to "Pocket Full of Sunshine," which she discovers via a singing greeting card from her grandma. This is what had me grinning within the first ten minutes; it got the movie off to a fun start.

...Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive's parents. They had so many great lines and great moments (I started to list them here but realized they didn't make much sense out of context). Come to think of it, all of the adult characters/actors in this movie are pretty great, which is becoming increasingly more common in teen movies but certainly hasn't always been the case.

...Amanda Bynes. I like her, generally; I used to watch her show, What I Like About You, and I thought she was good in Hairspray. Here, as the born again Christian character who spreads the initial rumor about Olive's supposed sluttiness, she's very funny. Like Tucci and Clarkson, lots of good moments/lines.

...Penn Badgley. As is a secret to no one, I do not care for his character on Gossip Girl. I liked him a lot here. He plays Olive's love interest, Todd; his character is also the school mascot, which used to be a Blue Devil but got changed to a Woodchuck, and gets a lot of funny "mascot moments" that he totally throws himself into. His character is also super impressive; he never believes the rumors about Olive, but you get the impression that he would still like her even if they were true. He's great, all the way around.

...the self-conscious referencing of so many '80s movies that I also love: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Can't Buy Me Love, etc. I think at this point you pretty much can't use certain teen movie conventions without pointing them out, and I thought the movie did so in a smart way.

...the English teacher, Thomas Haden Church, complaining that most of his students don't even try to pretend that they actually read The Scarlet Letter instead of just seeing the Demi Moore movie, and that if he reads one more paper that talks about her British accent or wondering if she's still married to Ashton Kutcher, he's going to lose it. I know I mostly found that funny because I'm an English teacher, too, but still: hilarious.

Now, I'm not saying this was a perfect movie. For one thing, though I thought Emma Stone did a good job as Olive, I had a hard time believing that she was invisible at her school. No way. Also, I thought it ended a little abruptly. I know they were going for the whole "classic '80s movie" ending and all, but it felt a little unfinished. For instance: we are led to believe, via the text message Olive sends her friend Rhiannon, that the two of them will probably make up and be friends again. I do not approve of this, based on the fact that Rhiannon totally turns on her friend for absolutely no reason AND! kissed Woodchuck Todd (Penn Badgley) when she knew that Olive liked him. I was waiting for a big confrontation/conversation between the two girls, and kind of needed one before I could accept them being friends again, and it never came.

But when all is said and done-- and this is going to sound cheesy-- it's just been awhile since I've seen such a nice movie-- one in which I was impressed by what genuinely great people so many of the characters seemed to be. I think that's what was so pleasantly surprising about this movie. So-- yeah. I'd recommend this one.