Easy A?...Easy C...

Last night I went to my local Cinema 12 to check out Easy A.  After enjoying Emma Stone in Superbad and Zombieland, I had decent expectations for this film, but unfortunately they weren't met.  Campy and shallow, Easy A does not live up to its supposed humorous hype.

Easy A is a modern retelling of the Scarlet Letter.  Emma Stone plays Olive Penderghast, an anonymous high school student who's life gets turned upside down when she lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) about losing her virginity.  Her lie gets overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes) and is spread all over school.  Now considered a floozy, Olive's new found fame leads to guys giving her money and gift cards so they can say they hooked up with her to help improve their  popularity in school.  As her reputation as a slut grows, the conservative Christian student group led by Marianne begins to harass Olive, trying to get her to repent for her new promiscuous ways. 

While aiming to be smart and witty, the humor in Easy A comes off feeling forced and campy.  Olive's parents, played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, are too over the top and flaky, and the stereotype portrayal of the Christian high school students left a bad taste in my mouth.  Another more personal issue I had with Easy A is; did they run out of money for a decent soundtrack?  The music selection for this film is horrible.  I'm willing to forgive a bad song here and there, but when almost every song becomes a distraction to the scene and leaves me cringing, that's a problem. 

With such an accomplished and talented cast that included Thomas Haden Church & Lisa Kudrow along with Stone, Tucci, Clarkson, I really wanted to like Easy A.  But the few chuckles I did have couldn't make up for the giant flaws in this film.  (**Stars)