The Spotlight of the Month: Emma Stone

So Fasy had the idea that each month, we would feature an actor or actress who we would put under the spotlight.  You know, like talk about a newcomer to show business and films you can find them in, or perhaps reflect on a classic performer.  This month, we’re going with:

Emma Stone

  She can be seen in the film Easy A out this month.  You may recognize her from Superbad or even Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.  She has a husky voice and a unique look, but she stands out on her own.   

Easy A

With her vocabulary that surpasses most college graduates, Emma Stone as faux-promiscuous high school student, Olive, takes the cake in Easy A.  You give an inch, they take a mile.  Olive went along with a lie about losing her virginity and so her life turned into a destructive black hole in which she is portrayed as a harlot.

Emma Stone knows her role and plays it well.  And what role is that, exactly?  Well, after her best friend, Rhiannon, mistakes Olive’s silence as an indication that she had sex with a community college student over the weekend, Olive becomes the jezebel that rumors say she is.  After the rumor leaked that Olive was no longer a virgin, she decides to fight back with words to her haters from the Christian Club.  This lands her in detention where she reconnects with Brandon, a not-yet-out gay friend.  Olive inadvertently suggests that he pretend to be straight to assimilate to high school life and in turn landed herself in a predicament.  She has to help Brandon by pretending to have sex with him at one of the most popular girl in school’s house party.  In one of the funniest scenes in the movie where Olive and Brandon spank each other and call out what they believe to be “dirty talk”, they have successfully convinced the school of their hook-up.  The rumor mill is at it again, except this time, she is getting noticed…by the losers of the school looking for her to perform the same deed she did for Brandon:  a fake hook-up.  Effectively turning herself into somewhat of a prostitute, Olive allows boys to spread rumors about their non-existent sexcapades in turn for gift cards to Office Depot and lotions from Bath & Body Works.  The Christian Club is closing in on her possible expulsion leading Olive to sew the letter “A” onto all of her corsette tops, channeling her inner Hester Prynne. 

Up until now, the movie had pretty accurately depicted high school.  And then, we see a high school sex scandal unravel before our very eyes.  The guidance counselor has gotten herself into a sticky situation with a Super Senior by giving him an STD.  In order to save the guidance counselor’s position, the student uses Olive as his decoy when asked who he had sex with.  Emotionally feeling the effect of this rumor, Olive decides to create a video blog to document her actions of the past month.  No rumors, just the truth. 

Admist all of her sexual dealings, Olive finds herself falling for Woodchuck Todd, a friend who has been there all along and knows what really happened, even without Olive telling him.  In a tribute to all John Hughes’ 80’s movies, Olive and Woodchuck Todd ride off on a lawn mower together making sure to fist pump for the camera’s last still shot. 

I enjoyed this movie.  It satisfied my laugh quota for the day and gave me a few new lines to quote.  However, I just really didn’t find it all that believable.  I know that’s what movies are supposed/allowed to do:  be unbelievable.  But that only works with sci-fi for me.  Olive’s slightly unrealistic relationship with her hip parents plays a small part in the movie but has a great impact.  The sharp dialogue between the family members is somewhat unbelievable and yet, they manage to unearth the problem lying behind Olive’s newly adopted provocative wardrobe.  The sex scandal that arises is another issue I have with the realistic aspect of the movie.  But I guess that stuff happens, right?  Rock on, Emma Stone, rock on.

Spend or Save?  Spend…or just wait for its DVD release.