Advertisements and plot synopses I read online told me that Will Gluck's new high school-set comedy Easy A is a modern take on Nathaniel Hawthorne's English class staple The Scarlet Letter. Having enjoyed both the book and the film, I'm wondering in what ways they are similar at all, apart from each work's respective protagonist donning the crimson "A". In The Scarlet Letter, the "A" stood for "adulteress"; In Easy A, I have no idea what the fuck Emma Stone is wearing it for, except as a way of showing that she feels ostracized. This "A" ended up being more of a problem for me than maybe it should have been. She's clearly wearing a huge, red "A" on her chest to school everyday. No one finds this odd, or even seems to notice, except for the tragically hip English teacher responsible for the reading assignment (Thomas Hayden Church).
Surprisingly, this is one of my two major problems with an otherwise very witty, and funny movie; I'll get to the other one in a moment. Emma Stone is particularly great as socially invisible highschooler, Olive Penderghast, who suddenly finds notoriety as a "slut" after she fibs to her best friend (Ally Michalka, currently on CW's "Hellcats") about losing her virginity to a college boy while Christian do-gooder Amanda Bynes eavesdrops in the girls' room. She uses this notoriety to fake sleep with other socially inept males in exchange for gift cards, thinking no one will get hurt, all the while waiting for long-time crush Penn Badgley to make a move.
The initial premise is a bit too much "only in the movies" for me, but the film goes way out of its way to stress its connections with the '80s high school classics of John Hughes to almost justify it. The best friend arc is eerily similar to the one shared by Lindsay Lohan and Lizzy Caplan in Mean Girls, but feels forced, as though the writer didn't know what to do with Michalka's character after the intitial set-up. Stone's relationship with her parents (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson) is always a delight, but the characters straddle a thin line between charmingly funny, and bat-shit quirky. The only other important adult is Church's guidance counselor wife, Lisa Kudrow, who acts way more Phoebe from "Friends" than her serious arc could handle.
On the plus side, Will Gluck proves he can actually direct. I was worried Fired Up! was just a weird fluke of stupidity that somehow was very enjoyable. Nope. He even has some nice tricks that exaggerate the immediacy and fickle nature of adolescent emotions. I think it is no accident that the events can seem long-developing and epic, but all take place within a time-span of two weeks. That revelation felt almost brilliant to me. And again, I can't stress enough how great the whole cast was. Thomas Hayden Church's deadpan cracked me up every time he opened his mouth; Amanda Bynes takes on the Mandy Moore role in Saved and more than makes it her own; and Emma Stone owns every second of the movie with her wise-cracking, steely demeanor. She has given what is easily one of my favorite performances of 2010.
But here's the real issue with the film; why it can't be a teen movie classic. It brings up serious high school issues like gender dynamics and double standards, hypocrisies found in any given high school, and then it abandons them. It merely skirts the surface of the real world problems it wants you to think it's addressing. And it doesn't avoid its issues with more humor or general levity. Instead it takes a dark turn towards the serious; a move that almost kills the whole experience. Serious is fine, but this twist, involving infidelity and venereal disease, felt like it was from a different universe. It also became just another subject that writer Ben V. Royal felt the need to quickly get out of. It's a shame,too, given that other components of Easy A really hit right on the money.
Easy A: 7.3/10
Also, one serious character oversight. Emma Stone's Olive is very familiar with Victor Sjostrom's 127 version of The Scarlet Letter, one of the most beautifully filmed silent films I've ever seen, but when one of the boys gives her a giftcard to the local foreign theater, she scoffs at the idea of foreign cinema.
Silly
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Quiz time
You ain't nobody in the film blogosphere until you take one of Dennis for The Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. This year it's not 95 questions, so I decided to be somebody.
1) Classic film you most want to experience that has so far eluded you.
If this is in reference to any classic films I just haven't got around to yet, well, there are just too many to name. Most of Eric Rohmer's filmography, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, many film noir classics. If instead this is to be taken as a classic film loved by critics and audiences that I haven't enjoyed nearly as much, then I'd have to say Stayajit Ray's Pather Panchali. I watched this very recently and enjoyed its humble slice of life India, but I thought the heaviness toward the end of the film was just too much.
2) Greatest Criterion DVD/Blu-ray release ever
Either Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows, because the film is so great and it had some great extras; or their "Eisenstein: The Sound Years", featuring Ivan the Terrible, Parts 1 and 2 and Alexander Nevsky. 2 of the most visually arresting films ever made from one of the greatest of all directors, all packed into one, cool looking box? It's almost too much
3) The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon?
The Big Sleep is the better novel, but The Maltese Falcon wins the movie battle. Marlowe is funnier than Spade.
4) Jason Bateman or Paul Rudd?
Both are so funny. Both appear in some terrible films. Rudd was in Knocked Up, Clueless, and a surprise guest appearance in "Veronica Mars." The guy knows what's up.
5) Best mother/child (male or female) movie star combo
Ummmm.... Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson. Am I right, or what?
6) Who are the Robert Mitchums and Ida Lupinos among working movie actors? Do modern parallels to such masculine and no-nonsense feminine stars even exist? If not, why not?
I'm not the film historian it takes to explain why, but they definitely do not exist today.
7) Favorite Preston Sturges movie
The Lady Eve. Sullivan's Travels is a close second.
8) Odette Yustman or Mary Elizabeth Winstead?
Winstead is just so darn purdy.
9) Is there a movie that if you found out a partner or love interest loved (or didn't love) would qualify as a Relationship Deal Breaker?
Personally, I believe we're all entitled to our own opinions, and whether someone is a good person or not does not, in any way, hinge on whether or not they like In The Mood for Love or not. Not all of my girlfriends have felt the same way....
10) Favorite DVD commentary
This might be a surprising pick, but I love Joe Wright's thoughts on his own Pride and Prejudice. He openly criticizes his flawed film, acknowledging choices that would have helped the film, and bringing a wonderful sense of humor to the proceedings that makes it incredibly enjoyable.
11) Movies most recently seen on DVD, Blu-ray and theatrically
DVD - Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard's Pygmalion; Blu-ray - Friday the 13th; Theatically - Winter's Bone.
12) Dirk Bogarde or Alan Bates?
Bates
13) Favorite DVD extra
Usually anything on a Criterion disc.
14) Brian De Palma’s Scarface— yes or no?
Holy fucking God, no.
15) Best comic moment from a horror film that is not a horror comedy (Young Frankenstein, Love At First Bite, et al.)
Anytime Jackie Earle Hailey says anything in The Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
16) Jane Birkin or Edwige Fenech?
Gotta go with Jane Birkin here. Not an easy decision.
17) Favorite Wong Kar-wai movie
In the Mood for Love. Always.
18) Best horrific moment from a comedy that is not a horror comedy
Anything Jackie Earle Hailey says in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
19) From 2010, a specific example of what movies are doing right…
Mother is the only perfectly told film I've seen this year, so not story. Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World make a case for a new era of visual excellence.
20) Ryan Reynolds or Chris Evans?
Chris Evans showed some serious chops in Sunshine, and some crack comic abilities in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
21) Speculate about the future of online film writing. What’s next?
It will continue. It will become increasingly less knowledgeable and grammatically incorrect. Am I the future of film writing?
22) Roger Livesey or David Farrar?
Neither. Sorry.
23) Best father/child (male or female) movie star combo
Kirk and Michael Douglas
24) Favorite Freddie Francis movie (as Director)
25) Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth?
Bringing Up Baby
26) Tina Fey or Kristen Wiig?
Wiig is proving annoying on SNL. Fey wins.
27) Name a stylistically important director and the best film that would have never been made without his/her influence.
Hitchcock. In the Mood for Love.
28) Movie you’d most enjoy seeing remade and transplanted to a different culture (i.e. Yimou Zhang’s A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
29) Link to a picture/frame grab of a movie image that for you best illustrates bliss. Elaborate.
Speak of the devil....
There's a reason you see this so much.
I like to take out Ruffalo and put myself in his place.
30) With a tip of that hat to Glenn Kenny, think of a just-slightly-inadequate alternate title for a famous movie. (Examples from GK: Fan Fiction; Boudu Relieved From Cramping; The Mild Imprecation of the Cat People)
I'm no Glenn Kenny, or funny person, but I'll try. In the Mood for Sex. Neighborhood of God. Peeping John.
The END!
1) Classic film you most want to experience that has so far eluded you.
If this is in reference to any classic films I just haven't got around to yet, well, there are just too many to name. Most of Eric Rohmer's filmography, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, many film noir classics. If instead this is to be taken as a classic film loved by critics and audiences that I haven't enjoyed nearly as much, then I'd have to say Stayajit Ray's Pather Panchali. I watched this very recently and enjoyed its humble slice of life India, but I thought the heaviness toward the end of the film was just too much.
2) Greatest Criterion DVD/Blu-ray release ever
Either Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows, because the film is so great and it had some great extras; or their "Eisenstein: The Sound Years", featuring Ivan the Terrible, Parts 1 and 2 and Alexander Nevsky. 2 of the most visually arresting films ever made from one of the greatest of all directors, all packed into one, cool looking box? It's almost too much
3) The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon?
The Big Sleep is the better novel, but The Maltese Falcon wins the movie battle. Marlowe is funnier than Spade.
4) Jason Bateman or Paul Rudd?
Both are so funny. Both appear in some terrible films. Rudd was in Knocked Up, Clueless, and a surprise guest appearance in "Veronica Mars." The guy knows what's up.
5) Best mother/child (male or female) movie star combo
Ummmm.... Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson. Am I right, or what?
6) Who are the Robert Mitchums and Ida Lupinos among working movie actors? Do modern parallels to such masculine and no-nonsense feminine stars even exist? If not, why not?
I'm not the film historian it takes to explain why, but they definitely do not exist today.
7) Favorite Preston Sturges movie
The Lady Eve. Sullivan's Travels is a close second.
8) Odette Yustman or Mary Elizabeth Winstead?
Winstead is just so darn purdy.
9) Is there a movie that if you found out a partner or love interest loved (or didn't love) would qualify as a Relationship Deal Breaker?
Personally, I believe we're all entitled to our own opinions, and whether someone is a good person or not does not, in any way, hinge on whether or not they like In The Mood for Love or not. Not all of my girlfriends have felt the same way....
10) Favorite DVD commentary
This might be a surprising pick, but I love Joe Wright's thoughts on his own Pride and Prejudice. He openly criticizes his flawed film, acknowledging choices that would have helped the film, and bringing a wonderful sense of humor to the proceedings that makes it incredibly enjoyable.
11) Movies most recently seen on DVD, Blu-ray and theatrically
DVD - Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard's Pygmalion; Blu-ray - Friday the 13th; Theatically - Winter's Bone.
12) Dirk Bogarde or Alan Bates?
Bates
13) Favorite DVD extra
Usually anything on a Criterion disc.
14) Brian De Palma’s Scarface— yes or no?
Holy fucking God, no.
15) Best comic moment from a horror film that is not a horror comedy (Young Frankenstein, Love At First Bite, et al.)
Anytime Jackie Earle Hailey says anything in The Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
16) Jane Birkin or Edwige Fenech?
Gotta go with Jane Birkin here. Not an easy decision.
17) Favorite Wong Kar-wai movie
In the Mood for Love. Always.
18) Best horrific moment from a comedy that is not a horror comedy
Anything Jackie Earle Hailey says in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
19) From 2010, a specific example of what movies are doing right…
Mother is the only perfectly told film I've seen this year, so not story. Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World make a case for a new era of visual excellence.
20) Ryan Reynolds or Chris Evans?
Chris Evans showed some serious chops in Sunshine, and some crack comic abilities in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
21) Speculate about the future of online film writing. What’s next?
It will continue. It will become increasingly less knowledgeable and grammatically incorrect. Am I the future of film writing?
22) Roger Livesey or David Farrar?
Neither. Sorry.
23) Best father/child (male or female) movie star combo
Kirk and Michael Douglas
24) Favorite Freddie Francis movie (as Director)
25) Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth?
Bringing Up Baby
26) Tina Fey or Kristen Wiig?
Wiig is proving annoying on SNL. Fey wins.
27) Name a stylistically important director and the best film that would have never been made without his/her influence.
Hitchcock. In the Mood for Love.
28) Movie you’d most enjoy seeing remade and transplanted to a different culture (i.e. Yimou Zhang’s A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
29) Link to a picture/frame grab of a movie image that for you best illustrates bliss. Elaborate.
Speak of the devil....
There's a reason you see this so much.
I like to take out Ruffalo and put myself in his place.
30) With a tip of that hat to Glenn Kenny, think of a just-slightly-inadequate alternate title for a famous movie. (Examples from GK: Fan Fiction; Boudu Relieved From Cramping; The Mild Imprecation of the Cat People)
I'm no Glenn Kenny, or funny person, but I'll try. In the Mood for Sex. Neighborhood of God. Peeping John.
The END!
Friday, September 10, 2010
catch up
Busy!
The Great:
It Rains in My Village (Aleksandar Petrovic, 1968)
City of Pirates (Raul Ruiz, 1983)
Jigoku (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1960, Criterion)
Neighbours (Norman Maclaren, 1952, short)
The Good:
The Devil (Andrzej Zulawski, 1972)
The Seventh Horse of the Sun (Shayam Benegal, 1993)
My Childhood (Bill Douglas, 1972)
Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)
Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)
The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjostrom, 1926)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, 2010)
L'argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)
Pygmalion (Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, 1938, Criterion)
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
The Decent:
The Misfits (John Huston, 1961)
From the Clouds to the Resistance (Straub-Huillet, 1979)
Trees Without Leaves (Kaneto Shindo, 1986)
Centurion (Neil Marshall, 2010)
The Dark Wind (Errol Morris, 1991)
The Bad:
Little Monsters (Richard Greenberg, 1989)
Komodo vs. Cobra (Jim Wynorski aka Jay Andrews, 2005)
Next up is the summer television moratorium, along with the fall predictions
The Great:
It Rains in My Village (Aleksandar Petrovic, 1968)
City of Pirates (Raul Ruiz, 1983)
Jigoku (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1960, Criterion)
Neighbours (Norman Maclaren, 1952, short)
The Good:
The Devil (Andrzej Zulawski, 1972)
The Seventh Horse of the Sun (Shayam Benegal, 1993)
My Childhood (Bill Douglas, 1972)
Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)
Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)
The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjostrom, 1926)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, 2010)
L'argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)
Pygmalion (Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, 1938, Criterion)
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
The Decent:
The Misfits (John Huston, 1961)
From the Clouds to the Resistance (Straub-Huillet, 1979)
Trees Without Leaves (Kaneto Shindo, 1986)
Centurion (Neil Marshall, 2010)
The Dark Wind (Errol Morris, 1991)
The Bad:
Little Monsters (Richard Greenberg, 1989)
Komodo vs. Cobra (Jim Wynorski aka Jay Andrews, 2005)
Next up is the summer television moratorium, along with the fall predictions
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