Cinepals - EASY A (2010) Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

For the first time, Jaby & Steph watch Easy A, about a high school student, Olive Penderghast's harmless white lie about losing her virginity spiraling out of control, leading to a series of comedic and heartfelt misadventures.   This film stars: Emma Stone (La La Land, The Help & Poor Things), Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl & You), Amanda Bynes (What a Girl Wants & She's the Man), Dan Byrd (Cougar Town & Aliens in America), Thomas Haden Church (Sideways & Spider-Man 3), Lisa Kudrow (Friends & The Comeback), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange & Halloween), Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada & The Hunger Games series) & Aly Michalka (iZombie & Cow Belles).   SOCIAL MEDIA: ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals   ~Steph Sabraw~ Instagram: @StephSabraw YouTube: @TheWhirlGirls  

Senna. Pows. What's going on, everybody? We are watching EasyA starring Emma Stone. We're going to get right into this. Here we go. That was fun. Yeah.

That was an experience to say for sure. It's so frustrating how real it feels that like she tried to tell so many people the truth and they just refused to listen. They were so fixated on the lie or the rumor that was said instead of just hearing what she had to say. It almost felt like mother. feels felt like mother sometimes. I don't think you saw that, right? That's an Aronovsky film in that Jennifer Lawrence is just never heard. She keeps trying to like talk and like people just making her feel awful. This is the easiest way to put it without giving too much away. The movie's weird and

cool. You watch it one time and that's it. It's like it's a horrifying film to watch. But anyway, yeah, I really enjoyed this. I think that it for the most part, I don't know when this came out, but it feels like it was years ago and it held up. I feel like it's a strange sister to mean girls. And I thought that it had some really funny characters, some really funny lines. It reminded me of how I truly am so happy. I never have to go back to high school. It's just such a confusing, awful time for so many people where people just spread rumors and don't know how to act and go into these groups and act completely like dickheads. Yeah.

But in the eye, I like the ending. I like that she owned it and became like an OG YouTuber. It's interesting to see how people treated the internet back then before YouTube took over and Twitter and Instagram and all that stuff. I mean, I feel like YouTube and all that stuff had been around already, but... Live streaming. How were we live streaming before YouTube? I don't know. I can't even remember.

It's almost like having a sibling. It's like it's so weird to think about what it was like before they were around. Right. I don't know. In any case, I enjoyed the storytelling. I enjoyed going on this journey with her. And I think it was a little bit thought-provoking insofar as it. It lets you know that sometimes it's good to just listen to what someone's saying instead of talking over them.

Right. You know, the most frustrating, I think, two scenes in the film, which felt very real was when she talked to the counselor. Right. And when she spoke to the priests. And it's like, these are two people that are supposed to listen to you. My experiences with priests, what little I've talked to them, haven't been bad if I've gone to confession. They just listen. They're like, they just sit there and listen and they tell you to go do a couple of our fathers and Hail Mary's, etc.

But I've had bad experiences with counselors just not listen. right and so I hated my counselor in high school she was just like she wasn't really interested in what I wanted to do with my future and my path oh yeah and so I feel like that's sort of the job though right you know I know that should have been such a red flag for that counselor to be the worst listener ever so it makes sense her arc yeah because yikes I never went to the counselor but for reasons like that where I heard like it's pointless yeah you know They're just clocking and clocking out. They don't want to be there as much as no one.

The kids don't want to be there. The counselors don't want to be there. Nobody wants to be there. Right, right. You know, I haven't seen another film like this that I can think of where a character is wearing a bad reputation at the service of everybody else for their benefit. I can't think of another story like this. It's very unique in that way.

The craziest part for me, though, was when you found out that Lisa Kudrow was sleeping with the student. And she decided to keep wearing that reputation. And Lisa Kudrow accepted that offer. I'm like, yo, like, you really should, that's, that's when you need to start examining your life and your decisions. That's bad. You know? I'm not to say it doesn't happen. I'm sure that, like, I don't know.

But to let a child bear the weight of your awful decisions. Right. Is next level. Yeah. So the sad part is like a lot of that felt kind of like true to life. Right. I mean, I, you wouldn't catch a counselor sleeping with a, there's no 22 year old in high school. If that was a thing back then, it's definitely not a thing now.

You know, they just send you off to adult school to get your GED. But for the movie, it's fine. You know, it works. I mean, this could have easily been community college. It would have been the same thing, honestly. The way that they handled the relationship with Lisa Kudrow and what's his name, who played her husband? Sandman. Yeah, Sandman.

Thomas Hayden Church. I thought that was interesting. It wasn't a neat beau. He let go of her, but he missed her. And that's what that looks said at the end. I felt bad for him because he, you know, he legitimately, like, wanted to, to spend more time with her and she was kind of pushing him off and stuff like that and who knows what and like there's a lot that you can unpack from that because it's it's such a small part of

the story but the way they wrote it it felt like it was actually quite layered you know it's like who knows how long this has been going on do you ever see the movie unfaithful with richard gear and diane lane so yeah it's like this could have been going on for a while and he's trying to romance her and she's just kind of like and then come to find out what she's actually doing and you know he doesn't want to leave her but he didn't feel like he had a choice right You know, and she's trying to reach out to him, and he's like, I'm phasing you out. Yeah, it's like, not only is she, was she cheating on him. She's clearly cheating on him quite a bit and acquired chlamydia.

Yeah. And then gave it to a student. You can't go back from that. Yeah. Especially as in his position, as a teacher. Yeah. Well, I was half expecting him to work it out with her only because of this whole thing around Scarlet Letter. They made a whole point where something about the, the, the, the born-again Christian girl

going like, oh, she's the worst person ever. He's like, don't you have any empathy for her at all? So I would have thought that that's like his marriage becomes an extension of that story. Oh, okay. You know what I mean? But I guess it just never came back. Yeah.

Too far. Too far. Yeah. I did enjoy her parents, Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. The best. Those were my faith characters. Yeah. For sure.

I mean, they're very unusual, but I enjoyed them. It felt a little bit like Juno in that way. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good call. Yeah. Stanley Tucci was my favorite character in the film. Just his, his, his, his, his, his, his, his enthusiasm.

and his sense of humor, it felt very relatable, even though I don't know any dad's like that. Like, it's his personality still felt relatable. Yeah, I really do. I agree with what you said where I think the newer age parents are going to be a little more like them. Yeah. Maybe not, because I think it's impossible, not impossible, but a parent's hardest struggle must be not having severe anxiety about every one of your children's decisions. Yeah. And they were absent of that.

Yeah. Or they showed absent emotions, but I liked how playful and honest they were with their kids. I really hope that I'm that kind of parent. While I enjoyed the story and I enjoyed the journey the character went on and all that stuff, I did have a hard time believing Emma Stone and Penn Badgley. I just had a hard time believing that they didn't already, like, that she wasn't getting ass out all the time. Right.

Yeah, he didn't have like a cheerleader girlfriend or something. And like they never really explained why he suddenly had an interest in her as opposed to two weeks prior. There's some deleted scene on the editing room floor that helped to patch that for me, and they just never bothered. It almost felt like they were calling it out. Did you ever see Happy Death Day?

Yes. So near the end of the film, they talk about Groundhogs Day, kind of making fun of the fact that they totally borrowed this concept, right? There, in that scene at the car, he's like, don't think about it. I know you're about to overthink it, but don't.

He's not really saying it to Emma Stone, he's saying it to the audience. And that annoys me. I'm like, no, fuck you movie. You need to explain this. Like, where was he? Where was feelings? Okay, so I think that that might have been it, but what I took away from it was that he ended up falling in love with, like, who she was in terms of that deep compassion to be able to put herself as the martyr for all these other people.

Okay. And then wear it with her chest. Okay. Because he's like, you did that for me, so I could put that puzzle together. No one had to tell me. Oh, man. Would I have liked it more if they had said that? I needed them to spoon feed me that a little.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you got that and I'm glad you shared that with me because that makes more sense of it. That's a good justification. That actually makes a lot of sense. He seems like a good dude is the way the movie painted him. Right. And so instead of like, oh, no, I just, I just do now. Yeah. I wish they said some kind of hint that was a little bit more clear for me like the dummy watching this. Because the scene at the pool, he's like, hey, buddy. And he like pushed her shoulder. I'm like, I would never ever do that with a girl that I was like legitimately interested in. Right. I would have a hard time talking to her first off because I was such a dweeb in high school. changed I wouldn't be able to make contact like that right you know I'd be too nervous right but he clearly like saw her as just a friend and that transition needed to be just a little bit more clear for me yeah but I do like that justification maybe that's what it was you know that he just saw that she was a good person you know

based on their history and I kind of dumbly forgot that that could inform why he was able to see the truth of what was going on yeah you know yeah maybe who knows you weren't told. Yeah, I thought that, you know, you mentioned Amanda Binds a couple times over the course of the film. I thought she did a really good job as that character. Her and her whole posse, you know. Totally. Yeah, like, she just very, was very believable as that hardcore born again Christian individual. Some of the behavior was a little bit, was, it was exaggerated. But the culture of those circles is so authentic and so accurate. I don't know what it is, but like my ex-girlfriend said, they just always seem so happy. And it was her inspiration to want to go become born and get a Christian. Oh, really? Yeah. I don't know if she did or not.

Okay. We'd love to find that out. Yeah, I'm not talking to her. They always just seem so joyful all the time. But one can't help but think, at least the cynic in me, goes, this is just a facade, right? Like, you can't really be that happy all the time. Right.

You know what I mean? It's a little... Unless your name is Steph. Just kidding. I am. I am, definitely. But not always. Not always.

You guys, thanks for watching. I'm Jabby Kui. This is... Steps to rock. Peace out.