Easy A

Emma Stone displays star-making charisma in this teen comedy, playing one of those girls who just fades into the background at high school. So when the fibs she tells about her (actually nonexistent) sexual exploits start doing the rounds, it's no surprise that Stone is flattered by the attention. But, of course, we know that those tall tales are only going to get her into deeper trouble, even if we understand the peer-pressure to seem cooler (or should that be hotter?) than she really is. What unfolds, however, is a deft, witty and sympathetic tale of adolescent confusions that bravely references both Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and John Hughes teen pics of the 1980s - and gets away with it. There's also a stellar supporting cast that includes Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Stone's groovy parents, and Malcolm McDowell and Lisa Kudrow as members of the school staff, and they all make the most of writer Bert V Royal's gold-standard dialogue. True, the plot almost overreaches itself, but it's still enormously funny and has surprising cross-generational appeal.