Easy A has a lot going for it. The lovely and talented Emma Stone stars. The director, Will Gluck, did Fired Up, a movie I enjoyed. The supporting cast is insanely packed with talent like Amanda Bynes, Stanley Tucci, Cougar Town‘s Dan Byrd, Thomas Hayden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Patricia Clarkson, Malcolm McDowell and Fred Armisen. Oh, and the plot takes a tried and true basic storyline like “main character lives a life of lies, it goes pretty good and then it starts to suck” and does something new with it by having said main character pretend she’s the school skank to bolster the reputation of others. Thankfully, it turned out to be a pretty fun movie, but it’s not perfect.

There’s lots of laughs to be had in the movie all around, but I think sometimes they try too hard for them. I love the relationship that Stone’s character has with her parents Tucci and Clarkson who echo the hippy parents in Valley Girl or Family Ties. They have a nice, respectful relationship that includes a lot of joking around, but sometimes that joking around is just too much. It very quickly goes from fun banter to two comedians trying to one up each other in an improv group.

But, aside from a few quibbles like that and the complaint that some people are trying to be too funny, this was a very solid movie that really showcases Stone’s charisma which I’m a big fan of. Definitely worth a watch.