Review Based On Previews: Easy A

Hear here, Richard Gere. I didn't see this movie, though I am going to a review this movie. Based on what? Way to read the title! Based on the previews, and how many times I've seen this preview because they show this preview every commercial break during The Office in syndication (FOX 5, Weeknights at 11). Also, the movie intrigued me enough. Thus swelled the perfect storm to review a movie I will likely never see unless someone has it on in the background when it reruns on cable. Really "dumb" review? Really Really. LINK TO TRAILER.

So we got a dark teen comedy with one-liners filled out by a premise where a girl is lying about having sex. That is ripest of ripe ground for social commentary on teen promiscuity, social hierarchy in high school, and the right of passage known as vulnerability. Plus it looks like some pot shots are taken at religion. Sprinkle in some Oscar nominees in Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, and Thomas Haden Church, add an adorable black kid... and we got something promising. Emma Stone seems like an actress with things going for her. I recognize her from movies I like where she didn't do any bad in: Zombieland, Superbad, and The Rocker (though her plot did suck the life out of The Rocker- I just like that movie and will mention it most opportunities I have to). This is her big break-out movie, the one that solely rests on her shoulders, and they are promoting the hell out of it. Good for her.

So why am I not really wanting to see it? Well, it's basically a teen comedy marketed as Girl Power teen comedy. I am not a girl, nor am I a teen. I've enjoyed Girl-centered Teen Comedies before. There was the fun and real social commentary (and Tina Fey and Tim Meadows) of Mean Girls, and Heathers hit all the targets in making a dark teen comedy work on any level. Easy A? Not a bad plot, one that I think won't flesh out... she'll gain power, be overcome by that same power, a boy will be there, the people who oppose here will gets what's coming to them- all with the help of one-liners. Oh, these one liners! Using Tom Cruise as a punch-line. 'Rumors about my promiscuity have been greatly exaggerated.' That's just not funny. 10 Things I Hate About You also wasn't funny, but it was manageable. Why? Well the plot was taken from great literary work, much as Easy A is inspired by The Scarlet Letter, and 10 Things had some fine performances from Living on the Ledger, JGL, the underrated David Krumholtz, and something that turned out to be Julia Styles. So, keep ripping off a masterpiece, and let Emma Stone do the heavy lifting- and you might be just as good as a movie I can tolerate. Is that hoping for the best? I don't care, I don't want to see it.

It's a preview. They're supposed to use the broadest parts and put a song in the background. Show Emma Stone being attractive, and highlight the actors people know. All previews are bad and shouldn't speak to anything about the movie. Marketing is the worst. But at least it gives you a seed to plant in your brain garden. So with Easy A"- Boo? Yeah.