Easy A (2010)

A reputation can be built in a single afternoon, and it can take a lot longer than that to set the record straight. Will Gluck's "Easy A," written by Bert V. Royal, stars Emma Stone as Olive Penderghast, a smart, overlooked high school student in Ojai, California, who tells her best friend, Rhiannon (Aly Michalka), a harmless fib about losing her virginity to make her boring weekend sound more exciting. When the school's self-righteous gossip and Christian club leader, Marianne (Amanda Bynes), overhears and spreads the rumor across campus, Olive suddenly becomes notorious. Rather than fight it, she decides to lean into her new image, even helping a bullied gay classmate (Dan Byrd) by pretending to sleep with him, and soon other outcasts are paying her to do the same. Olive sews a red "A" onto her new, provocative wardrobe, echoing "The Scarlet Letter," which her class happens to be studying. But as the rumors spiral out of control, she begins to lose friends and her chance with her longtime crush, Todd (Penn Badgley). Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are hilarious as Olive's laid-back, endlessly supportive parents. Stone's star-making performance earned a Golden Globe nomination. It's a sharp, funny comedy inspired by "The Scarlet Letter."