Film

Easy A

Easy A is a whip-smart teen comedy that borrows its plot from The Scarlet Letter and its energy from every John Hughes movie you loved. Emma Stone announces herself as a comic lead — deadpan, quick, morally sharper than the adults around her — as a girl who invents a scandalous reputation and then can't outrun it. Funny, quotable, and sneakily serious about hypocrisy underneath the jokes.

TMDb rating6.8

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Mean Girls2004

The gold standard of high-school social-warfare comedy — quotable in every line, and just as sharp on how fast a rumour becomes reality.

But You've probably already quoted it a hundred times; there's little here that will feel new.

Mean Girls poster

Clueless1995

Another loose classic-lit adaptation turned teen comedy, with a heroine whose confidence and moral compass make the satire land softer but no less sharp.

But The slang and fashion are pure '90s time capsule — charming, but dated if that's not your thing.

Clueless poster

10 Things I Hate About You1999

Shakespeare filtered through a Seattle high school, with the same blend of wit, romance and a heroine too smart for the games around her.

But The plot mechanics are pure teen-movie formula; go in for the cast, not surprises.

10 Things I Hate About You poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Scarlet Letter1927no page yet

Easy A is a direct riff on this exact story; watching the source shows how much moral weight the comedy is quietly borrowing.

The actual source material Olive keeps quoting, played dead straight — Lillian Gish's Hester Prynne carries the same shame and defiance with nothing but her face.

But Silent, slow by modern standards, and utterly without jokes — the tone Easy A parodies rather than shares.

More like this (8)

Juno2007

Another fast-talking teenage girl navigating a reputation she didn't quite choose, with the same mix of humour and unexpected tenderness underneath the jokes.

But Diablo Cody's dialogue is an acquired taste — some find the quippiness exhausting rather than charming.

Juno poster

Booksmart2019

A more modern, gleefully raunchy spin on the smart-girl-versus-her-reputation formula, with the same warmth toward its characters even at their most chaotic.

But Leans harder into raunch and party-movie chaos than Easy A ever does.

Booksmart poster

Superbad2007

Same high-school-comedy engine, different gender and gear — raunchier, louder, and just as interested in how rumour warps a single day.

But Much cruder and more male-focused; the sincerity Easy A has is mostly absent here.

Superbad poster

Ferris Bueller's Day Off1986

The John Hughes touchstone Easy A keeps nodding to — a charming, rule-breaking lead narrating their own myth-making straight to camera.

But No underlying moral sting; it's pure fantasy fun rather than social commentary.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off poster

Never Been Kissed1999

A different reputation-reinvention story — an adult undercover as a teen — that shares Easy A's interest in how identity gets rewritten by rumour.

But The central premise is stranger and creakier by today's standards; treat it as a period piece.

Never Been Kissed poster

The DUFF2015no page yet

The closest recent cousin: a girl labelled and mocked by her school who decides to rewrite her own story, loudly and on her own terms.

But Broader and more formulaic, without the literary backbone or the wit that makes Easy A sing.

Audrie & Daisy2016

Same engine as Easy A — a rumour spreads and a girl becomes defined by it — but shown as the genuinely destructive thing it can be.

A devastating documentary about real teenage girls whose reputations were destroyed by rumour and social media — same premise, none of the jokes, real consequences.

But Heavy and upsetting, not something to watch for entertainment — this is the subject matter with all the comfort removed.

Audrie & Daisy poster

Welcome to the Dollhouse1996

Same setup — an ordinary kid becomes the school's designated outcast by rumour and reputation — but curdled into something far more uncomfortable than Olive's story ever risks being.

Todd Solondz's pitch-black comedy about a friendless, mocked middle schooler is the tonal opposite of Easy A's wit — funny in a way that stings rather than charms.

But There's no clever monologue that fixes everything here; it's much bleaker and offers little catharsis.

Welcome to the Dollhouse poster

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