Easy A

I've grown up in a world where teen culture has consistently ruled. It started with the baby boomers, my mom's generation, the first generation to prove that teenagers were a worthy market to pander to, so, as a result, books, television, music and movies have been created specifically for this group but consumed by all the rest of us.

I've been consuming teen media since I was around six and my babysitter would watch "Square Pegs." From there, it was the John Hughes oeuvre, "Saved by the Bell," teen magazines, NKOTB, "Clueless" and on and on. As I've gotten older, my appreciation for teen culture hasn't waned. Well into my twenties I was watching all that The N (now Teen Nick) and the pre-Miley Cyrus Disney Channel had to offer. I will stop to watch "A Cinderella Story," "John Tucker Must Die" and other better-quality teen movies whenever they're on TV.

Like I wrote a few months ago when I got the "Daria" DVD set, I think all these teen stories still appeal to me, and to so many other people ("Gossip Girl" wouldn't be as popular as it is if only teenagers watched), because, even as adults, we don't have it figured out and we don't always fit in.

That struggle is what "Easy A" is all about. The clever premise and fantastic cast piqued my interest earlier this year when I first saw the trailers and pop-ups at the movie theater, and I was happy that I finally got to see it tonight. The movie is so smart and funny and ultimately honest, but still romantic and fantastic and hopeful. It shows how terrible girls can be to one another, how human teachers and parents are, and how hard it is to be different, but then it does have the well-deserved justice that rarely seems to come in real life, and the perfect guy coming at the perfect time and saying the perfect thing in the most-perfect way imaginable.

In case you've missed it, here's the preview:



Emma Stone carries the movie effortlessly as Olive, too smart for her own good and too awkward to catch a break. Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Thomas Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow are fantastic as the mostly well-meaning adults. The friends and foes at Olive's school are equally great; particularly Amanda Bynes as the self-important leader of the school Christian club and Penn Badgley as Olive's perfect guy, and maybe mine, too.

After seeing the also-great "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" on its opening weekend in a nearly empty theater, I was so glad to see "Easy A," now two weeks old, in a theater that was more than half-full. It not only does my heart good to see people flocking to a movie as smart as "Easy A," this kind of success can only lead to more teen movies being made that are just like it, clever, funny, sweet and worth seeing again and again.

Off the subject, but OMG, tonight's "Simpsons" may be the best yet with appearances by the cast of "Glee," Flight of the Conchords and Ira Glass.