How Easy is Obsequiousmelon?

Name of the Film:  Easy A   

Starring: Emma Stone    

Teen comedies are often mislabeled in that they aren’t funny.  Too often a guy drinking cum in a beer is mistaken for hilarity.

Don’t get me wrong American Pie is very funny but eventually the joke wears thin and when it does it seems to be all the writers had in their arsenal, which means we end up with (often) vomit inducing over sentimentality backed by a crappy but ‘oh so trying to be indie to appeal to those youngsters’ soundtrack.  

Lets put this into perspective.  Frasier was always my favourite comedy show...  That and Seinfeld... And Red Dwarf.  Sure I dabbled with Friends, I even saw an episode of The King of Queens once, but ultimately word play and clever situational comedy will always trump fart jokes in my opinion.  (Yes I am aware that Red Dwarf has more than it’s share of toilet humour but the funniest characters in that show were always Holly and Rimmer, so I think my point still stands.)

So, which is Easy A?  The intelligence of Clueless or the not terribly, mentally demanding American Pie?

Thankfully, for me at least, it is more in the Clueless category.

Emma Stone is effortlessly likable as our heroine, Olive.  Who becomes the subject of school gossip when she allows a friend of hers to mistakenly believe that she has lost her virginity.  The question of course is at what price does her growing infamy come?

Easy A stands above its peers for two reasons.

Firstly the performances are wonderful.  All of them from Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as the unflappable parents, to Amanda Bynes as the Evangelist, Jesus freak, evil bitch / nemesis.  They are all played perfectly especially Emma Stone as Olive.  She is charismatic to a fault and while her character makes some odd decisions she grounds the film in a calm and real performance.

Secondly it is genuinely funny.  This might sound a little odd but so many comedies recently are just mildly amusing, not uproariously funny.  This film made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions which is a rarity.

To conclude, this film is brilliant.  It doesn’t pander, it doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t.  It merely relies on well written characters being funny in amusing situations and it displays a love of John Hughes movies, which, as a child of the eighties with four older sisters so do I.

I love it, so should you.

  

Did I enjoy the film?  Yes.   

Would I recommend it to my friends?  Yes.   

Will I buy it on DVD/Blu Ray?  Yeah definitely.

If it was a mate would I let it date my Sister?  Yes it could.