Easy A

2010, US, directed by Will Gluck

Although there are several enjoyable character bits - Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as a pair of indulgent parents, and Thomas Haden Church as a trying-to-be-cool teacher, in particular - this is Emma Stone's movie, and she seizes her lead role with such zest and charm that it doesn't really matter that she's clearly too old for high school. It's one of those parts where you suddenly sit up and pay attention to a performer, irrespective of the quality of the rest of the movie - a mixed bag in this case, with some rather obvious high school stereotypes and narrative obstacles, although the film does give a vivid, enjoyable sense of the speed with which gossip travels in the Facebook age.