Easy A

Easy A
Originally uploaded by Andrew Ng Images

Olive Penderghast is your average Jane in high school, sweeping by under the radar – that is until she agrees to help her gay friend have an imaginary tryst so the jocks and rest of the school will stop picking on him for being gay. This one act transforms Olive into the school’s super-skank as the rumor mill goes active. What happens from there is a comedy of errors as Olive agrees to help fellow student after fellow student, letting them have imaginary flings with her as long as they provide the gift card of her choice. When her status becomes negative Olive takes a stand inspired by Hester Prinn and dons a scarlet A, making a statement about the way people choose to see her.

Easy A sets out to crib John Hughes in a very obvious way. Not only does Olive mention Hughes and the most popular teen films of the 80’s, but Will Gluck seems to be intent on cribbing Hughes in every way possible…and it works. While Easy A may not be a blow-for-blow Hughes film, the viewer is left with the same feeling they would be in a Hughes film – the feeling that these characters are really human, and the story has a heart.

Emma Stone is no Molly Ringwald, but by this I mean no disrespect. Ringwald grew to fame by playing the delicate, pretty girl that was either too popular (Breakfast Club) or overlooked (Sixteen Candles) but no matter what character she was, she was always delicate and understated. Emma Stone is not. Emma Stone is the Huges character for a modern generation – when situations arise that challenge her, Stone’s Olive makes the situation more obvious and pushes it to the next level attempting to throw her peers folly back on them.

What struck me most after watching Easy A was something I didn’t expect; I was struck by how Easy A could be a commentary for how a generation of teenagers is so vastly different from the teens of the 80’s. While our parents always tell us the differences between our struggles and theirs is only circumstantial, this film proves that wrong. In Sixteen Candles the worst thing that can happen to Samantha in Sixteen Candles is that a freshman pays five bucks to see her underwear, but in Easy A the worst thing that can happen to Olive is that men pay money to date her.


Director: Will Gluck

Olive: Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life.

Zombieland

There are not a lot of zombie movies like Zombieland. Zombieland doesn’t try to take zombie lore to a new place, instead it uses the new 28 Days Later style zombie plague and fast moving zombies, but what it does do is play up the comedic side of life in the zombie plague and make the focus one that does not concentrate on the horror of the situation.

I loved the four main characters in this film; all were entertaining and well played. However, I am in love with Woody Harrelson’s Tallahassee and Abigail Breslin’s Little Rock. Harrelson was expertly cast as a man-child, complaining, Twinkie-seeking man who finally found his skill in life – zombie killing. Tallahassee is hysterical and surprisingly thought out for a character that should just be quick remarks and brutal attacks. I also think my life may be complete now that I have seen the little girl from Signs as a shotgun wielding tough girl. Breslin is a phenomenal actor, one that I did not realize was already in her teens and I hope that she can transition into an adult star as she goes through these next few years because I think she will be absolutely phenomenal as she gets older and may be another Natalie Portman.

If you haven’t already heard there is a side-splitting cameo in Zombieland. I will not name who it is or who they play in the film but the cameo is one of the funniest scenes in the entire film – and this is a film that had me laughing from the first few frames. You cannot miss this cameo.

The one element that stood out for me in Zombieland as being what I will carry away from the film had to be the rules that Columbus creates for surviving the zombies. We are introduced to rule number one as the film opens – cardio. That’s right, immediately Columbus explains that the fatties died first when the infection hit for obvious reasons – they couldn’t outrun the zombies. Columbus scribbles down all of his rules in a notebook through the film and never shies away from talking about them. The film even pops up the rules as part of the image when it wants to underscore a moment in the film, like when Tallahassee should have followed one of the rules and limbered up before attacking something.

This is a movie that I want to see again. This is a movie that I think I would like even if I didn’t like the zombie sub-genre. If you appreciate well written, well put together comedies I do suggest you see and enjoy Zombieland even if it’s on DVD.

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writers: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick
Columbus: Jesse Eisenberg
Tallahassee: Woody Harrelsom
Wichita: Emma Stone
Little Rock: Abigail Breslin

Columbus: Don't be afraid to use your ammunition, that lady should have, would have, could have, saved herself. Rule number 4: Double Tap.