Easy A (stylized as easy A) is a 2010 teen comedy film written by Bert V. Royal, directed by Will Gluck, and starring Emma Stone. The screenplay was partially inspired by the novel The Scarlet Letter. The film was shot at Screen Gems studios and in Ojai, California. Screen Gems distributed with a release on September 17, 2010. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc December 21, 2010.[3][4][5][6]
| Easy A | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Will Gluck |
| Written by | Bert V. Royal |
| Produced by | Will Gluck Zane Devine |
| Starring | Emma Stone Penn Badgley Amanda Bynes Cam Gigandet Thomas Haden Church Patricia Clarkson Lisa Kudrow Malcolm McDowell Alyson Michalka Stanley Tucci |
| Cinematography | Michael Grady |
| Edited by | Susan Littenberg |
| Music by | Brad Segal |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Screen Gems |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | Template:Film US |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million[1] |
| Box office | $74,952,305[2] |
The film was a box office success and received mostly favourable reviews, particularly for Emma Stone's performance.
Plot
Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) about going on a date in order to get out of camping with Rhi's hippie parents. Instead, she hangs around the house all weekend. The following Monday, pressed by Rhiannon, Olive lies about losing her virginity to a college guy. Marianne (Amanda Bynes), a strictly religious girl at their school, overhears her telling the lie and soon it spreads like wildfire. The school's conservative church group run by Marianne decides Olive will be their next project.
Olive confides in her friend Brandon (Dan Byrd) about the truth, and he explains how others bully him because he's gay. Brandon later asks Olive to pretend to sleep with him so that he will be accepted by everyone. Brandon convinces Olive and they pretend to have sex at a party.
After having a fight with Rhiannon over Olive's new identity as a "dirty skank", Olive decides to counteract the harassment by embracing her new image as the school tramp. She begins to wear more provocative clothing and stitches a red 'A' (a la Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter) to everything she wears. Boys who usually have had no luck with girls in the past begin to give her money to say they have had sex with her in order to increase their own popularity, which in turn increases her reputation.
Olive reconnects with Todd (Penn Badgley), her old crush who is also the school's mascot. Todd tells her that he does not believe the rumor mill; he remembers when she lied for him because he wasn't ready for his first kiss years ago.
After a friendly talk with her eccentric, open-minded mother, Olive comes up with a plan to get everything finally in the open, she does a song and dance number at a pep rally to get people's attention to watch her via web cam where she confesses what she has done. Later, she texts Rhi, apologizing for lying. When she is finishing up, Todd comes by riding a lawnmower and tells her to come out. She goes to him, and they ride off on the lawnmower.
Cast
- Emma Stone as Olive Penderghast
- Penn Badgley as "Woodchuck" Todd, Olive's crush.
- Amanda Bynes as Marianne Bryant
- Aly Michalka as Rhiannon "Rhi" Abernathy, Olive's best friend.
- Cam Gigandet as Micah, Marianne's boyfriend
- Mahannah Hassam as Nina, Marianne's best friend
- Thomas Haden Church as Mr. Griffith
- Patricia Clarkson as Rosemary Penderghast
- Stanley Tucci as Dill Penderghast
- Bryce Clyde Jenkins as Chip Penderghast, Olive's adopted younger brother.
- Lisa Kudrow as Mrs. Griffith, Olive's School counselor.
- Malcolm McDowell as Principal Gibbons
- Dan Byrd as Brandon
- Jake Sandvig as Anson
- Fred Armisen as Pastor Bryant
- Juliette Goglia as young Olive
- Stacey Travis as Mrs. Bryant
- Bonnie Burroughs as Micah's mom
- Lalaine as Gossipy girl (cameo)
Development
Screenwriter Bert V. Royal claims to have written the entire screenplay, except for the last ten pages, in five days.[7]
Royal's plan was to adapt three classic works into films and to set them at the same high school, so that some characters would appear in multiple films. Besides The Scarlet Letter, which was the source material for Easy A, Royal wanted to adapt Cyrano de Bergerac and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.[7]
The song "Pocketful of Sunshine", which becomes a running joke in the film, was not in Royal's original script. He envisioned "Olive", a track from Ken Nordine's 1966 album Colors, to play during Olive's weekend montage (which introduces the song).[7]
Director Will Gluck wrote the scenes to play "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield because his daughters used to play with a magazine advertisement for Verizon Vcast which featured the song.[citation needed]
Gluck's favorite movie is Ferris Bueller's Day Off and has multiple homages to it in the film (Olive's shower mohawk, "never had one lesson"), among many other John Hughes references.[8]
Gluck credits Stone with improvising the line about being a "Gossip Girl in the Sweet Valley of Traveling Pants".[9] According to Royal, although the word "fuck" appeared 47 times in the original draft and was written as an R-rated comedy, all occurrences were cut from the final film. However, director Will Gluck shot two versions of many scenes, both with and without the coarser language.[7] Although the film was cut down for a wider audience, the film still obtained a 15 rating in the United Kingdom.[10][citation needed]
The entire film was shot in Ojai, California. Not a single movie set was used; even the houses in the movie belong to Ojai residents. The school used as "Ojai North High School" in the film is Nordhoff High School, also located in Ojai, California.
Release
Easy A had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.[11]
Marketing
- The website mentioned in the film, freeolive.com, will in fact lead to the official movie website LetsNotandSayWeDid.com.
Home media
Easy A was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on December 21, 2010.[3] The DVD features a gag reel, Emma Stone's audition footage, an audio commentary with director Gluck and Stone, and previews (including Burlesque, which features Cam Gigandet and Stanley Tucci, Beastly, and The Social Network). Blu-ray exclusive bonus features include: The Making of Easy A, The School of Pop Culture: Movies of the '80s, Vocabulary of Hilarity and a trivia track.
Reception
Box office
The film opened on September 17, 2010 and grossed $6,787,163 on its opening day and $17,734,040 in its opening weekend, placing second behind The Town on both figures. This was in line with expectations from Sony of an opening weekend take of around $15 million.[1] The film has grossed a total of $58,401,464 in the United States and Canada plus $16,057,768 in international markets for a worldwide total of $74,459,232, the film was a box office success.[2]
Critical response
The film has received generally positive reviews, with many praising Stone's performance. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 87% based on 157 reviews, with an average score of 7.1/10 and the consensus being, "It owes a huge debt to older (and better) teen comedies, but Easy A proves a smart, witty showcase for its irresistibly charming star, Emma Stone." [12] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, assigned the film a weighted average score of 72% based on 34 reviews from mainstream critics.[13]
In his review, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half out of four stars, writing, "Easy A offers an intriguing middle ground to the absolute of sexual abstinence: Don't sleep with anybody, but say you did. It's a funny, engaging comedy that takes the familiar but underrated Emma Stone and makes her, I believe, a star."[14]
John Griffiths from Us Weekly gave the movie two and a half stars out of four; he praised Stone, stating that "With her husky voice and fiery hair, Stone is spectacular, echoing early Lindsay Lohan", but also added that "The story is thin, and the laughs meager".[15]
Awards
| Ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Globes | Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Emma Stone | Nominated |
| The Comedy Awards | Best Comedy Actress | Emma Stone | Nominated |
| The Comedy Awards | Best Comedy Film | Nominated | |
| People's Choice Award | Best Movie Comedy | Nominated | |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Comedy Film | Won | |
| MTV Movie Awards | Best Female Performance[16] | Emma Stone | Nominated |
| MTV Movie Awards | Best Comedic Performance[17] | Emma Stone | Won |
| MTV Movie Awards | Best Line from a Movie[18] | Emma Stone and Amanda Bynes | Nominated |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Romantic Comedy | Won | |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Actor: Romantic Comedy | Penn Badgley | Nominated |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy [19] | Emma Stone | Won |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Female Scene Stealer [20] | Alyson Michalka | Nominated |
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on September 14, 2010, and is available on iTunes. It features records from The Pussycat Dolls, OneRepublic, Lenka, Natasha Bedingfield, Kardinal Offishall, the Dollyrots, Death Cab for Cutie and Jessie J.[21]
References
- ^ a b Fritz, Ben (2010-09-16). "Movie projector: 'Easy A' expected to lead 'The Town,' 'Devil,' 'Alpha and Omega'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- ^ a b "Easy A (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
- ^ a b "'Easy A' DVD Release Date Announced". BuzzFocus. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ Michael Fleming (2009-06-03). "Cast penciled in for 'Easy A'". Variety. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (2009-06-16). "Johanna Braddy". Variety. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ^ Staff (March 29, 2009). "Emma Stone earns an 'Easy A'". HitFlix. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
- ^ a b c d Bert V. Royal Interview with Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast, Sept. 14, 2010
- ^ "Interview: Director Will Gluck for Easy A". ScreenCrave. 2010-10-14. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Jen Yamato (2010-09-18). "'Easy A' Director Will Gluck on Teen Sex and '80s Fantasy Boyfriends".
- ^ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/504797b879b16ddb802577f300503ef1?OpenDocument
- ^ Corliss, Richard (2010-09-17). "Easy A: We ♥ Emma Stone". Time.
- ^ "Easy A Film Reviews at rottentomatoes.com". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
- ^ "Easy A Film Reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
- ^ Roger Ebert (September 15, 2010). "Review: "Easy A"". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ US Weekly - Issue 829 - Dated January 3, 2011.
- ^ "Best Female Performance". MTV Movie Awards. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ "Best Comedic Performance". MTV Movie Awards. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ "Best Line from a Movie". MTV Movie Awards. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ "Teen Choice Awards 2011: The Winners". Elena Gorgan. Retrieved 08 - 08 - 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Teen Choice Awards 2010: Second (Giant) Wave Of Nominees Announced!". Retrieved 8 - 15 - 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1282140/soundtrack