HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) was a typical high school girl, until she decided to be, well, A-typical.
I mean, what’s your average, everyday girl to do when her popular, detail-seeking best friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka) wants the 411 on Olive’s weekend, and the boring reality is nothing to brag about? Can’t a non-entity, a perceived zero, an anonymous girl like Olive tell a little white lie if it gives her just a tiny taste of that magical prize sought by every teenager: popularity?
Some status updates, however, just cannot be contained, especially when Marianne (Amanda Bynes), Ojai High School’s very own Tammy Faye Bakker, overhears Olive’s words. Soon, rumors of Olive’s promiscuity are being greatly exaggerated.
Within minutes, the student body is all a-twitter, linked-in and face-booked over Olive’s supposed indiscretions. While it’s not necessarily the kind of notoriety Olive was looking for, becoming the center of attention proves to be tantalizingly addictive, so much so that Olive decides not to deny the rumors. In fact, she embraces them, further playing the part by sporting a sexy new look and biting new attitude. After all, she knows the real truth, and her non-judgmental parents (Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson) trust her. So she’s not really hurting anyone, is she?
Sure, her favorite English teacher Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church) feels the need to express his well-meaning concern, while his wife, the school guidance counselor (Lisa Kudrow), offers her own brand of advice and protection. But the spotlight feels pretty good to Olive, who even devises a creative use of her newfound reputation to help some of her status-challenged fellow students, including fellow peer pressure victim Brandon (Dan Byrd).
As her story continues to mutate and take on a life of its own, Olive can’t help but begin to identify with the notorious plight of the classic literary character Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter, the book she just happens to be studying in Mr. Griffith’s class.
But when Olive begins losing control of the raging rumors, she finds it’s not all that easy to put out a wildfire. Unless she’s able to clear things up, other people’s lives are going to suffer greatly as a consequence. “Easy” does it, Olive.
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