Easy A

"Maybe this is gonna sound stupid and, believe me, it's not like I was expecting, you know, fireworks or a string quartet or anything but I always thought pretending to lose my virginity would be a little more, I know know, special? Judy Blume should've prepared me for that."
Title: Easy A

Director: Will Gluck

Production Company: Screen Gems

Copyright: 2010

Plot Summary: To avoid spending time with her best friend's wacky family for the weekend, Olive Penderghast lies and says she spent the weekend losing her virginity with a college student. Like most rumors, Olive's spread like wildfire through her school and soon all the Christians say she will be damned and everyone is can't keep their eyes off her. Reveling in this newfound attention, Olive starts to change her wardrobe and demeanor at school. She uses her new popularity to help downtrodden guys at school like her gay friend who wanted to play straight until he graduates. Soon, every unpopular guy wants to spread the rumor that he spent time with Olive by paying her in gift cards and her best friend won't even talk to her. Olive starts receiving unwanted attention in the form of the Christian students protesting over her sexual exploits and she begins to feel the full impact of her so-called adulterous lifestyle. To make things worse, Olive has never been on a date with a guy, let alone had sex with one.

Critical Evaluation: Olive's use of her webcamera to talk directly to the audience reduces the distance between her as protagonist and the viewers, quite like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. She also narrates the storyline as events unfold and her witty and strong personality really pull the movie through. With her newfound identity in school, Olive is able to remake herself through clothing and overall demeanor, especially how she acts among the other students. This could be taken as a positive cast to the otherwise negative image of an "easy" girl that Olive cultivates. The multiple references to 80s movies, especially those with chivalrous male leads, is a wink to the past from Olive and the older characters in the movie also make references to when times were different. While the ending was not as concrete as it could have been in terms of how everyone takes Olive's webcast, it summed up the story well and left it to the viewer's imagination.

Viewer's Annotation: Easy A tells the story of a rumor gone wild when Olive Penderghast lies that she lost her virginity to a college student. Soon the entire school knows and Olive's previous squeaky-clean image goes wild.

Information About the Director: Will Gluck is a New York born director, producer, and screenwriter. Gluck has written for many television series as well as directed and produced multiple movies.

He has directed the movies Fired Up and Friends with Benefits, along with Easy A. Some of Gluck's television series were the John Larroquette Show and The Loop.

Genre: High School; Rumors; Romance

Curriculum Ties N/A

"Booktalking" Ideas:

• How does Olive's original lie get blown out of proportion? What are other dangerous rumors that can be spread without much prior notice? Why do you think that Olive embraced the rumors so strongly instead of rejecting it whole-heartedly?

Viewing Level: 16+

Challenge Issues N/A

Why This Movie?: Critics Choice Winner

Reference Page:

Gluck, W. (2010). Easy A. Screen Gems.