By Ace Hunter 

Two Flusher = Mexican Revolt

It’s a good thing that writer/director John Hughes is no longer with us, because if he were he’d probably be suing for copyright infringement by now.

“Easy A” is a Mad Libs concoction of some of Hughes’ best known work from over 20 years ago that wants to be a contemporary take on the teen comedy genre, but ultimately lacks the sincerity and originality those 80’s films had in spades.

Emma Stone plays Olive, a pretty, yet unassuming high school teen who becomes the center of attention when she fabricates a white lie that she spent a sexually charged weekend with a mythical community college guy.  She uses her new found sexual infamy to her advantage, only to find out (predictably) later that sometimes the consequences far outweigh the cost.

The John Hughes checklist includes: breaking the fourth wall, a quirky gay character (Dan Byrd), understanding parents (arguably well played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson), the seemingly out of reach handsome nice guy (Penn Badgley), dishonest adults, the ‘outcast’ syndrome, and a musical number.

The film even ends on a high note where Olive comes clean of her misdeeds to her parents, friends, teachers, and the entire student body.  She also ends up with the out of reach handsome nice guy, and they both ride off into the sunset on a riding lawnmower while Simple Minds blares over the soundtrack.

Any of this sound familiar?  It damn well should.

I’m not sure what audience director Will Gluck (“Friends with Benefits”) made this film for; adults still nostalgic for these 80’s type scenarios or the younger generation who haven’t bothered to rent these flicks at their local Blockbusters.  Regardless, he (and screenwriter Bert V. Royal) fail so miserably in the execution that it reaches insulting levels to the viewer.

Gluck makes the same mistake director Bryan Singer made before him with “Superman Returns.”  They both created an homage film to a director without bothering to create their own take on the material in the process.  Singer jerked us off to the glory of Richard Donner’s “Superman” films, and here Gluck repeatedly masturbates to John Hughes to the point that he probably suffered from temporary blindness.

“Easy A” rips off, indirectly, or directly winks at Hughes’ body of work for the entire running time without ever becoming its own entity.  Even Cameron Crowe gets caught up in the cinematic semen burst with no less than two references to his iconic “Say Anything.”  

This movie is drenched in so much déjà vu that I thought I was watching a Chuck Workman tribute film to the late director.  Bad enough that you had to poorly emulate John Hughes, but did you have to include actual clips from his films as well, Will?  Goddamn shameful!

FW Centauri and honorary FW Perri Nemiroff both gave “Easy A” high marks (to which I begrudgingly link their respective reviews HERE and HERE), and I wonder if we were all watching the same film.  Perri comes from a younger generation, but there’s NO excuse for Centauri liking this regurgitated mess. He grew up with Hughes’ work and remains one of his biggest fans.  He should be embarrassed.

There’s a reason we don’t have any good teen comedies anymore.  It’s because we don’t have writers of the same caliber as Hughes who are capable (or willing) to write sharp, funny, and sometimes brutally honest screenplays that so accurately capture the voice of teenagers the way his work did.  

Instead we get writers and directors who choose to play it safe and kick the dust off well worn material from much better films.  This is both unacceptable and a slap in the face to the quest items that have come before.  

I don’t want to see a retread or homage of John Hughes’ work.  I have those films.  I love those films.  I know them by heart.  I deserve better on my endless quest, and so should you.

Watching “Easy A” is the equivalent to pissing on John Hughes grave, and tops my list as the worst film I’ve endured this year.  Thank heavens 2010 is over!

“Deeds, not words…”