Easy A

For the pejorative term for an easy academic program, seeMickey Mouse degrees.

Easy A
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Will Gluck
Written by	Bert V. Royal
Produced by	Zanne Devine Will Gluck
Starring	Emma Stone Penn Badgley Miko Hughes Amanda Bynes Thomas Haden Church Patricia Clarkson Cam Gigandet Lisa Kudrow Malcolm McDowell Aly Michalka Stanley Tucci
Cinematography	Michael Grady
Edited by	Susan Littenberg
Music by	Brad Segal
Production companies	Screen Gems Olive Bridge Entertainment
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release dates	September 11, 2010(2010-09-11)(TIFF) September 17, 2010(2010-09-17)(United States)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$75 million

Easy A(stylized aseasy A) is a 2010 Americanteenromantic comedyfilm directed byWill Gluck,written byBert V. Royal,starringEmma Stone,Penn Badgley,Miko Hughes,Stanley Tucci,Patricia Clarkson,Thomas Haden Church,Dan Byrd,Cam Gigandet,Lisa Kudrow,Aly Michalka,Malcolm McDowell,andAmanda Bynes(in her final acting credit). The screenplay was partially inspired by the 1850 novelThe Scarlet LetterbyNathaniel Hawthorne.

Shot atScreen Gemsstudios and inOjai, California,the film was released on September 17, 2010. The film received positive reviews with high praise for Stone's performance, and was a major financial success, grossing $75 million worldwide against a budget of $8 million. Stone received aGolden Globenomination forBest Actress in a Comedy or Musical,while the movie won theCritics' Choice AwardforBest Comedy.

The film is ranked as number 14 onEntertainment Weekly's 2021 list of the Best High School Movies.

Plot

The story is narrated by Olive Penderghast, a seventeen-year-old high school girl living inOjai, California,speaking into her webcam.

Olive lies to her best friend, Rhiannon Abernathy, about going on a date in order to get out of a camping trip with Rhiannon's hippie parents, instead hanging around the house all weekend listening toNatasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine"from amusical greeting cardher grandmother sent her. The following Monday, Rhiannon presses Olive until she lies about losing her virginity to a college boy. Marianne Bryant, a prudish devout Christian, overhears her telling the lie and it soon spreads throughout the school. The school's church group, run by Marianne, decides to "save" Olive from her supposed promiscuity. Olive confides the truth to her friend Brandon, who is bullied by other students for being gay. He asks her to pretend to have sex with him at a party so the other students will believe he is straight, to which she agrees.

After a fight with Rhiannon, Olive decides to counteract the harassment by embracing her new reputation as the school tramp. She begins to wear more provocative clothing and stitch a red "A" onto her clothes, inspired byHester PrynnefromNathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novelThe Scarlet Letter,which she has been reading in English class. Boys who have had no previous luck with girls beg Olive to increase their popularity by letting them claim they have had sex with her, which she does in exchange for gift cards to various stores. Things get worse when Micah, Marianne's boyfriend, contractschlamydiafrom sleeping with Mrs. Griffith, the school guidance counselor, and blames Olive. As Mrs. Griffith's husband, Mr. Griffith, is Olive's favorite teacher, she accepts the blame to spare their marriage.

The church youth group, which now includes Rhiannon, begins harassing Olive in an attempt to get her to drop out of school. She is asked out on a date by Anson, Rhiannon's crush, which ends badly when he tries to bribe Olive to actually have sex with him and not just pretend that she did.

Olive later reconnects with Todd, her childhood crush and the school mascot, who tells her he does not believe the rumors because she lied for him when he was not ready for his first kiss years ago. She decides to ask everyone she lied for to help her by telling everyone the truth, but nobody is willing to relinquish their newfound popularity. When Mrs. Griffith also refuses to tell the truth, Olive threatens to expose her affair, but Mrs. Griffith says no one would believe her. Out of spite, Olive immediately tells Mr. Griffith, who subsequently separates from his wife.

After talking with her open-minded mother, Olive comes up with a plan – she performs a song-and-dance number at a school pep rally to draw people's attention and tells them to watch her webcast later that night, promising an onlinesex showwith Todd when in reality, it is the webcast that has served as the narrative device for the film. As Olive is concluding her webcast, Todd comes by her house riding a lawn mower. She signs off by saying that she may lose her virginity to him sooner or later, but declares it "nobody's goddamn business". Olive texts Rhiannon and apologizes for lying to her. She goes outside to meet Todd and the two share a kiss before riding off on the lawn mower.

Cast

• Emma Stoneas Olive Penderghast
  • Juliette Gogliaas young Olive
• Penn Badgleyas "Woodchuck/Lobster" Todd
  • Braeden Lemastersas young Todd
• Amanda Bynesas Marianne Bryant
• Dan Byrdas Brandon
• Aly Michalkaas Rhiannon Abernathy
• Thomas Haden Churchas Mr. Griffith
• Lisa Kudrowas Mrs. Griffith
• Patricia Clarksonas Rosemary Penderghast
• Stanley Tuccias Dill Penderghast
• Cam Gigandetas Micah
• Malcolm McDowellas Principal Gibbons
• Mahaley Patelas Nina Howell
• Jake Sandvigas Anson
• Bryce Clyde Jenkins as Chip Penderghast
• Johanna Braddyas Melody Bostic
• Fred Armisenas Pastor Bryant
• Stacey Travisas Mrs. Bryant
• Max Crummas Pontius
• Yoshi Sudarsoas Eric Ling
• Lalaineas Gossipy Girl

Production

Development

ScreenwriterBert V. Royalclaims to have written the entire screenplay, except for the last ten pages, in five days.Royal's plan was to adapt three classic works into films and to set them at the same high school, so that some characters would appear in multiple films. BesidesThe Scarlet Letter,which was the source material forEasy A,Royal wanted to adaptCyrano de BergeracandThe Mystery of Edwin Drood.Natasha Bedingfield's song "Pocketful of Sunshine",which becomes arunning jokein the film, was not in Royal's original script. He envisioned "Olive", a track fromKen Nordine's 1966 albumColors,to play during Olive's weekend montage (which introduces the song).DirectorWill Gluck's favorite film isFerris Bueller's Day Offand has multiple homages to it in the film (Olive's shower Mohawk, "never had one lesson" ), among many otherJohn Hughesreferences.According to Royal, although the word "fuck"appeared 47 times in the original draft, which was written as an R-rated comedy, all occurrences were cut from the final film. Gluck shot other versions of many scenes, with or without coarse language.Although the film was cut down for a wider audience, it still obtained a 15 rating in theUnited Kingdom.

Filming

Gluck credits Stone with improvising the line about being a "Gossip Girlin theSweet ValleyofTraveling Pants".The entire film was shot inOjai, Californiain the summer of 2009, usingPanavision'sGenesisand laterfilmized.Not a single film set was used; even the houses in the film belong to Ojai residents. The school used as "Ojai North High School" in the film isNordhoff High School,and the end credits are filmed on Fordyce Road, both located in Ojai, California.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released byMadison Gate Recordson September 14, 2010, and is available viaiTunes.It features tracks fromJessie J,Lenka,Natasha Bedingfield,Kardinal Offishall,andCary Brothers.Other songs in the film but not on the soundtrack album are fromOneRepublic,Angus & Julia Stone,The Dollyrots,Death Cab for Cutie,andThe Pussycat Dolls.

Easy A (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack albumby Various Artists
Released	September 14, 2010
Genre	Pop,hip hop,rock,punk rock,new wave
Label	Madison Gate Records

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Change of Seasons"	Sweet Thing	3:46
2.	"Bad Before Good"	Day One	3:50
3.	"Trouble Is a Friend"	Lenka	3:37
4.	"If You Were Here"	Cary Brothers	3:49
5.	"15 Minutes"	The Yeah You's	3:30
6.	"Cupid Shoot Me"	Remi Nicole	3:43
7.	"Satellite"	Kram	3:06
8.	"Don't You (Forget About Me)"	AM	4:23
9.	"We Go Together"	I Heart Homework	3:17
10.	"Numba 1 (Tide Is High)"	Kardinal Offishall	3:42
11.	"Perfect Picture"	Carlos Bertonatti	3:06
12.	"The Wolf"	Miniature Tigers	2:35
13.	"Sexy Silk"	Jessie J	2:43
14.	"When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade"	The Boy Least Likely To	3:42
15.	"Pocketful of Sunshine"	Natasha Bedingfield	3:24
16.	"Don't You (Forget About Me)"	Simple Minds	4:23

Release

Emma Stone and Penn Badgley at the film's Toronto premiere.

Easy Ahad itsworld premiereat the2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

Home media

Easy Awas released onDVDandBlu-ray Discon December 21, 2010.The DVD features a gag reel,Emma Stone's audition footage, anaudio commentarywith director Gluck and Stone, and previews. Blu-ray exclusive bonus features include: The Making ofEasy A,The School of Pop Culture: Movies of the '80s, Vocabulary of Hilarity and a trivia track.

Reception

Box office

The film opened on September 17, 2010, and grossed $6,787,163 on its opening day and $17,734,040 in its opening weekend, placing second behindThe Townon both figures, and already making back more than double the film's slim $8 million budget. This was in line with expectations from Sony of an opening weekend take of around $15 million. The film grossed a total of $58,401,464 in the United States and Canada plus $16,624,752 in international markets for a worldwide total of $75,026,216, earning its budget back more than nine times, making it a huge financial success.

Critical response

On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes,Easy Ahas an approval rating of 85% based on 193 reviews, with anaverage ratingof 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "It owes a huge debt to older (and better) teen comedies, butEasy Aproves a smart, witty showcase for its irresistibly charming star, Emma Stone. "Another review aggregator,Metacritic,assigned the film a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave it an average grade of A− on an A+ to F scale.

Chicago Sun-Timesfilm criticRoger Ebertgave the film three and a half out of four stars, writing: "Easy Aoffers an intriguing middle ground to the absolute of sexual abstinence: Don't sleep with anybody, but say you did. It's a funny, engaging comedy that takes the familiar but underrated Emma Stone and makes her, I believe, a star. "Richard CorlissofTimemagazine named Emma Stone's performance one of the ten best film performances of 2010: "Stone lends winning maturity and a gift for making sassy dialogue sound natural. This 22-year-old is an actress-personality — a star — around whom Hollywood could build some pretty good movies."John Griffiths fromUs Weeklygave it two and a half stars out of four: "With her husky voice and fiery hair, Stone is spectacular, echoing earlyLindsay Lohan...The story is thin, and the laughs meager. "

Easy Awas praised for redefining tropes of teen films, particularly sex comedies.In a retrospective piece forThe Washington Post,Anying Guo discussed its influence, pointing out how it subverted "sex-crazed tropes into a sharp, thoughtful film" by satirizing teens' obsession with virginity itself.Guo added: "Packed with references to “Say Anything”and other ’80s homages, the film felt refreshing against the steady churn of bildungsroman narratives that often centered on young men. "

Accolades

Ceremony	Category	Recipients	Result
Artios Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Feature – Studio or Independent Comedy	Lisa Miller Katz	Nominated
The Comedy Awards	Best Comedy Film	Easy A	Nominated
	Best Comedy Actress	Emma Stone	Nominated
	Best Comedy Director	Will Gluck	Nominated
Critics' Choice Awards	Best Comedy Film	Easy A	Won
Dorian Awards	Unsung Film of the Year		Won
EDA Awards	Actress Defying Age and Ageism	Patricia Clarkson	Nominated
Eddie Awards	Best Edited Feature Film – Comedy or Musical	Susan Littenberg	Nominated
Empire Awards	Best Comedy	Easy A	Nominated
GLAAD Media Awards	Outstanding Film – Wide Release		Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Emma Stone	Nominated
Golden Schmoes Awards	Best Comedy of the Year	Easy A	Nominated
	Biggest Surprise of the Year		Nominated
	Best Actress of the Year	Emma Stone	Nominated
	Breakthrough Performance of the Year		Nominated
MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance		Nominated
	Best Comedic Performance		Won
	Best Line from a Movie	Emma Stone andAmanda Bynes	Nominated
People's Choice Awards	Favorite Comedy Movie	Easy A	Nominated
Russian National Movie Awards	Best Foreign Comedy Movie		Nominated
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards	Best Comedy		Nominated
	Special Merit(for best scene, cinematic technique or other memorable aspect or moment)	For theJohn Hughestribute near the beginning.	Nominated
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Romantic Comedy	Easy A	Won
	Choice Movie Actor: Romantic Comedy	Penn Badgley	Nominated
	Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy	Emma Stone	Won
	Choice Movie: Female Scene Stealer	Aly Michalka	Nominated

Sequel/spin-off

It was announced on June 20, 2019, that a spin-off film ofEasy Ais in development, which will be written and directed by Bert V. Royal.Further confirmation of the film came in 2021, withAly Michalkastating: "There are talks that there might be a sequel. That actually is semi real.... It would be kind of like a new retelling but you'd see some of the characters from the original come back into the story."

External links

• Official website
• Easy AatIMDb
• Easy AatAllMovie
• Easy AatBox Office Mojo
• Easy AatRotten Tomatoes