This was such a smart movie. Even though it's rated PG-13, I really don't consider it a movie for teenagers. At least not the teenagers who were in the theater with me. There were so many literary references and sharp, quick jokes. It was like if you threw Mean Girls into a blender with Juno and the Classics section of Barnes and Noble. And the entire canon of John Hughes movies. The story is of a girl named Olive (Emma Stone) who inadvertently starts a rumor in her high school that she lost her virginity. Things kind of snowball from that point but it doesn't really mushroom-cloud until her gay friend Brandon (Travis from Cougar Town!) begs her to pretend to have sex with him, thereby freeing him from the torment of homophobic peers. She finally gives in and hilarity ensues. I'm so glad Amanda Bynes came out of fake retirement to play the self-righteous Christian crusader who perpetuates Olive's torment.
Stanley Tucci (who you know I have a mad bald-man crush on) plays her erudite and slightly anarchic dad and every single scene with him was hysterical. Thomas Haden Church is her favorite teacher, Lisa Kudrow is his wife, and there's a bunch of young, up-and-coming actors that I had no idea who the hell they were. I'm 28. That's ancient in teenager years.
Still, even us old fogeys (and really, only old fogeys know what the hell old fogeys are) can relate to the soul-crushing crucible that is the Public High School Experience. Olive goes on a real, actual date about two-thirds of the way through the movie and the stilted, awkward silence she desperately tries to fill with inane, slightly-disturbing trivia....well, I'm not going to say that that's every date I've ever been on, but it's closer than I'd like.
Plus, the soundtrack's kinda badass.
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