Easy A

Easy A (2010)
A Solid B+

A modern take on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Easy A takes you on a journey with Olive (Emma Stone) whose newfound faux virginity loss becomes a way for her to help the socially awkward in her school gain some street cred. Although she gets showered with gift cards to Office Max and Home Depot, her reputation begins to take a turn for the worse.

Always there to remind Olive of her whorish lifestyle is the Jesus-loving freak Marianne, played by the apparently out-of-retirement Amanda Bynes. While her character was humorous and necessary (for the slight adaptation part of the book), I find Jesus-loving groups to be overplayed in the high school movie scene. Did anyone really have those types of people in school?

The scene-stealers for me were Olive’s parents, played by the fantastic Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. These modern, quirky, never read the “How to of Parenting” couple had some of the best one-liners in the film. Particularly, asking their adopted son where he was originally from.

Rounding out the cast was Penn Badgley (Olive’s love interest), Lisa Kudrow and Thomas Haden Church (Guidance counselor and Olive’s favorite teacher, respectively, who happened to be married). All three of those character didn’t get much screen time, but that really wasn’t what this movie was about was it? It was a modern take on an age-old concept: how much people want to fit in during high school and how big a double-standard losing one’s virginity really is between men and women.

A definite girl's night out flick.

Going the Distance

Going the Distance (2010)
My Review: B+

Going the Distance, starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, was not a highly anticipated movie for my friend and I. It got horrible reviews and was pretty harshly trashed by critics. But since skipping Free Movie Tuesdays would be breaking the 11th Commandment "Thou shall not pass up freebies," we packed up our snacks and caught the 7:15 showing.

For the next hour and a half, we pondered the same question that always comes up. What are those critics smoking and where can we get some!? The movie was freakin hilarious. While predictable, (boy meets girl, girl loves boy, girl moves away) the characters were believable and the one-liners actually hit. Perhaps the fact that Drew Barrymore & Justin Long have their own on-again off-again relationship off-screen made this movie work, but whatever it was, the chemistry was there and it left you longing for something to change so that this long-distance relationship (California - New York) works.

Not to be outdone was the hilarious supporting actors, Christina Applegate, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day. Christina Applegate plays Drew's tightly-wound with the best intentions, older sister, who reminds us that "dry humping is NO joke." Justin Long's buddies, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day, left us longing to go back to college with our best friends who never sugar-coated anything, left the door open to the bathroom as they did their business so you wouldn't miss a second of convo and were always there to play Top Gun music as you got your groove on in the other room. Ahh, the good ol days.

All in all, it is definetly worth 90 minutes of your time. If anything, you'll see what NOT to do when getting a spray tan. Until next Tuesday...