Can charm save a movie?
Easy A starts with a strained premise, trips over a clumsy plot point in the middle, gets directionless in its third act. What could’ve been a cute teen comedy about a lie between a gal and her gay friend blossomed instead into a Lit 101 riff that can’t sustain itself.
And oh, how it lays it on thick with the snappy sarcasm, confusing it with cleverness – it’s one thing to make everyone smarter than movies usually allow characters to be, but when everyone talks with the smooth detachment of a sitcom one-liner machine, the shallowness of it all reveals itself.
But then there’s the cast – not just Emma Stone, who’s a delight, but pretty much everyone who lands a speaking role. They’re buouyant as can be, keeping the whole damn thing afloat long enough to keep us smiling here and there.
Is that enough? I don’t know. Is “charming mess” a positive?
Popcornworld 