Wednesday, September 15, 2010


Due to my recent nuptials...

(really, is there a WORSE word than nuptials? It sounds like some country slang word for deep fried pig nuggets. As in:
nuptials (n.)-a meal of southern or midwestern origin made from a combination of pig's livers, bread, and spices (often shaped into balls and fried). Well, we ain't got no Mac Donald's round here, but you c'n go round that there bend to the eatin' shack and get you some real good nuptials.)

...blogging has been light. Apologies are in order. As are thanks for those of you who made the trip down to the "dirty" south to take part in the aforementioned nuptials. Lots and lots of love to all of you!

Back to the business at hand though.

A lot of times, I come across as a horrible snob. What, with all the "indy" movie promotion and my undying hatred for Eva LongBORE-ia, I can understand that some of you may believe me incapable of loving things that are "low brow."

So here it is: a confession. I LOVE high school movies. LOVE them. Almost all of them. Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Can't Hardly Wait.
But these are easy to love. And, see, I even love the bad ones. Like John Tucker Must Die. That's right. I've seen it. More than once. You are now free to judge me...I would.

And because of this shameful secret, I am literally jumping up and down with excitement for Friday. Because it's the release of "Easy A."


Do you know about Easy A? Surprisingly, they haven't been giving it a lot of press. But they SHOULD!

It's about a girl named Olive. Who, in a somewhat dubiously heroic attempt to help her closeted gay friend survive high school, pretends to sleep with him. Problem solved. Until all the geeks decide to make Olive the patron saint of "fake virginity losing." So she agrees to ruin her "good" reputation in order to help the geeks around her get a "cool" one.

Enter Nathaniel Hawthorne and his book "The Scarlet Letter." Just as Hester Pryne is branded with her scarlet "A," so is Olive. Literally and figuratively.

Here's the thing. Before you roll your eyes. You should watch the trailer. Because Emma Stone is not Megan Fox or even that horrible skinny blonde Amanda Seyfried girl. She is relatable. And so refreshing. And funny.

And sure, you may laugh that the "Scarlett Letter" Puritan townspeople equivalent is hyper religious high school kids. But that clique of uber conservative, overly religious teenagers who snake people behind their backs does exist. The blonde bitch you'll meet in the trailer. I went to school with her. No seriously, if you went to Savannah Christian, you knew that girl. And you'll also know that she was awful.

So you should see this film. Because, in addition to being relatable, "Easy A" is GOOD. Like, critically good. It's at something insane like 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. And it got selected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Which, if you know about TIFF is pretty crazy. Because TIFF is the first stop for all the Oscar and foreign language films. It's one of those Film Festivals that show up on movie posters with the leaves around them, denoting their high-class, educated importance.

Yeah. "Easy A" is getting one of those.

Love the T.S. Eliot reference. Obviously, an English major had a lot of fun writing this movie.


So, do yourself a favor and go see a high school movie. And then feel good about yourself, because, as far as high school movies goes, this one is promising to be one of the better ones. (Sorry, "John Tucker Must Die.")






After you see it (anyone want to go with me on Friday?!), we can discuss the whole "beard" issue. Because I hope they treat that one right. Please, please treat that one right. It's my one concern for the film.

And speaking of literature, film, and gays and literature in film...HAVE YOU SEEN "SASSY GAY FRIEND"?!!!!???

YOU HAVE TO WATCH THESE!

They are amazing! Really, I am so grateful that someone finally made parodies of Shakespeare's female heroines. Because, damn. I can totally remember being in high school and thinking that those girls were soooo stupid. "What are you doing?! What, what, what are you doing?!!"












And one last video for the day. Let's bring it full circle shall we? It's another one for Easy A.
Haven't we all experienced this?

3 comments:

  1. I found myself with a girl-crush on Emma Stone these past few days and the only thing I know about her is what I've seen in the trailers. Don't hate me for this, but she reminds me A LOT of Lindsay Lohan in her Mean Girls days. Another good high school movie. They even look a little bit alike, no? The comparisons stop there. I don't want to curse her. I love the modern twists on Shakespeare and Austen, so I'm really hoping that Hawthorne is made equally as fun. The reviews and TIFF appearance give me hope!
    And I so knew those uber-conservative kids in high school. In fact, many were my friends. Even my Catholicism was crazy to them, so needless to say I would love to see them shamed, albeit vicariously.

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  2. I saw a free screening of this last night. I definitely liked it-- we laughed out loud, etc. I don't think it will quite make it in the annals of classic high school movies, but it had heart. I think if I had any complaint, it was that it got a little too self-aware at times-- like, as certain things were happening or certain lines were being delivered, you could tell they knew EXACTLY how clever they were being. But it definitely doesn't ruin anything, because I still had a good taste in my mouth for the movie afterwards.

    Also, Olive's parents are hilarious. Stanley Tucci is my favorite part of the movie.

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  3. Hey Amy,

    Thanks for this! I was actually wondering how they would handle their own cleverness...and from that you're saying it reminds me of my reaction to moments in Juno where I was just like "Okay, Juno, we get it, you're the cutest inhabitant of 'Clever Cleverland.'"

    Anyway, I'm excited that you think it's better than the average high school musical...and hell, I'll take that over Transformers 18 any day :-)

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