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Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church & Dan Byrd

Posted on February 7, 2011 Written by ripitup

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Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd & Thomas Haden Church
Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd & Thomas Haden Church. Featuring Lisa Kudrow, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson & Malcolm McDowell. Image via sinemag.com

Easy A is easily one of the best movies set in a high school. It is original, totally fesses up the clichés it uses and rubs its nose in it – while making us laugh and smile the whole time. A bit like Gossip (minus the darkness and drama) combined with 10 Things I Hate About You, but it is its own movie. Here we go:

Olive (Emma Stone) is a pretty, smart and accomplished high school student but no one really seems to know who she is, apart from her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), school’s hot mascot (Penn Badgdley) and her favorite teacher Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church).

This all changes by one annoying coincidence when she lies to Rhi about losing her virginity. The school’s religion-obsessed Marianne (Amanda Bynes) hears it and the next thing, the whole school has spread, changed and “enriched” the story.  Not that Olive’s complaining, at least now everyone knows her name. But when she confesses the truth to school mate Brandon (Dan Byrd), he decides that he can do the same thing- spread a rumor and have a better high school life.

Brandon is gay and he asks Olive to say they slept together. When they fake it for the whole school, the rumor becomes that Olive’s slut. Rhi gets pissed Olive’s getting all the attention and Marianne is becoming more obsessed about making Olive find Jesus. Then a whole bunch of school boys ask for lies from Olive and Olive finds herself understanding what Hester went through in The Scarlet Letter…

The movie has a hilarious story, backed-up with great one-liners and an awesome cast. We have Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci for Olive’s sweet and unconventional parents, Thomas Haden-Church for the English teacher, Friends’ Phoebe Lisa Kudrow as the worst guidance counselor ever and Cam Gidanget as the oldest high school student. Of course the lead Emma Stone fits the role just fine. Amanda Bynes is annoying and funny as hell. And Penn Badgdley does look the part as the understated, good-looking guy who happens to be nice too…

Favorite Line:

Emma: I’m looking for the bible.

Bookstore Clerk: Oh, it is in the Bestsellers, right next to Twilight.

**

Fun notes:

Cam Gidanget, who plays Marianne’s boyfriend was actually in the first Twilight movie. He played the main villain.

Also on Patricia Clarkson:

Cairo Time starring Alexander Siddig & Patricia Clarkson.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona starring Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem. Feat. Patricia Clarkson

Also on Stanley Tucci

It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Stanley Tucci and Rosie Perez

Billy Bathgate starring Dustin Hoffman & Nicole Kidman. Feat. Stanley Tucci

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Alyson Michalka, amanda bynes, cam gigandet, comedy, Dan Byrd, easy a, easy a movie, emma stone, lisa kudrow, malcolm mcdowell, movies, Patricia Clarkson, penn badgley, romance, Stanley Tucci, The Scarlet Letter, the scarlet letter movie, thomas haden church, twilight movie

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits: The Natalie Portman Movie We Aren’t Excited About

Posted on January 9, 2011 Written by ripitup

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Love and Other Impossible Pursuits starring Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen and Lisa Kudrow
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits starring Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen and Lisa Kudrow.Image via ioncinema.com

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits: The Natalie Portman Movie We Aren’t Excited About

I’m looking forward to see Natalie in Thor and maybe even in No Strings Attached but I can’t say the same about Love and Other Impossible Pursuits.

Why?

Well, let’s walk through the storyline:

Emilia Greenleaf is in for a rough ride when she meets and falls in love with her older colleague Jack (Scott Cohen). Jack is married with a kid (Charlie Tahan). When he gets divorced from Carolyne (Lisa Kudrow) and marries Emilia, Carolyne finds it difficult to get along with her stepson. Things get even more difficult for her when she gets pregnant and then loses the baby. It is not like Carolyne will be helpful at all. Can Emilia find a way to get over her loss and connect with Jack’s son?

**

I’m sure the acting is lovely. But the story? I find it extremely hard to sympathize with Jack. He says he hasn’t done “this” before – this being he never cheated on his wife before. Congratulations, Jack. Let’s get you a medal. So he leaves his wife for the younger model. It can be true love, but since Jack didn’t  bother to walk away from his marriage before, I am not going to respect or tolerate him.

So Emilia falls in love with Jack. I am sure if she paid attention, there would be a lot of decent single or divorced man around. But no, Jack is “the one”.

I feel bad that she loses her own baby but it is a big stretch that anyone expects Carolyne to be nice to Emilia. Sure, maybe if enough time passed, she could be distant and polite. But come on…who wants to be nice to the other woman?

**

So, yeah Natalie Portman’s character is in for a tough ride, but she signed up for it willingly, apart from of course the loss of her baby. But her grief and attempts to connect with the kid aren’t enough elements to lure me in. Her acting may be good but come on…this is Portman. When is her acting ever bad?

And as a Lisa Kudrow fan, I might just stick to Friends re-runs. Or watch P.S. I love you again. After all man who stayed in love with his wife for 9 years and helped her cope with his own death makes for a better story, at least in my book.

Based on the novel of Ayelet Waldman and written and directed by Don Roos.

**

Other Posts feat. Natalie Portman

Coming Soon:Thor starring Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins & Natalie Portman

Overrated: Closer starring Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts & Jude Law

Preview: No Strings Attached starring Portman & Ashton Kutcher

Beautiful Girls starring Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Natalie Portman, Uma Thurman

Other Posts feat. Lisa Kudrow

P.S. I Love You starring Gerard Butler, Hillary Swank & Jeffrey Dean Morgan feat. Lisa Kudrow

Hollywood Stars in Friends

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: ayelet waldman, Charlie Tahan, don roos, drama, lisa kudrow, love and other impossible pursuits, movies, Natalie Portman, scott cohen

In the mood for a fun romcom novel?

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