Easy to have

Teen comedies are a dime a dozen. But rarely do films of this genre manage not only to entertain well, but also to be able to offer something like real surprises and stand out from the crowd. "Easy to Have" is such a pleasant surprise.

The story centers on the rather unremarkable Olive (Emma Stone), who goes about her daily school life completely unnoticed by most of her classmates. But to counter the constant teasing of her best friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka), whose mouth is at least as big as her bust size, Olive claims after another boring weekend, she spent the days off with a college student and lost her virginity to him - a lie with unexpected consequences: because Olive's supposed sex adventure spreads thanks to SMS and Twitter in no time at all throughout the school.

When Olive's classmate Brandon (Dan Byrd), who is always teased for his homosexuality, asks her to claim she slept with him too, the story gets completely out of control. While Olive is admired by most of the boys, she is only considered a cheap slut by her classmates. At first, the former wallflower enjoys her newfound attention, but when she tries to row back, she finds that it seems to be long too late for that...

At first glance, "Easy to Have" may seem like a typical teen comedy. But there are a lot of little things that lift the movie far above average. It starts with lead actress Emma Stone, who stands out very pleasantly from the slick Hollywood teens that primarily dominate this genre. Stone, who has starred in films as diverse as "Zombieland", "Superbad" or "House Bunny", has a somewhat demure charm that blows through the cinema like a breath of fresh air. Stone is supported by a great supporting cast, including Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive's parents. The two provide great laughs, which alone justify the visit to the cinema. But Amanda Bynes ("Hairspray"), Thomas Haden Church ("Sideways"), Lisa Kudrow ("Friends") and Cam Gigandet ("Twilight") also make this movie so entertaining.

What makes this movie so worth watching, especially for viewers who grew up in the 80s, are the direct quotes from various teen comedies of the time. Whether "Can`t buy me Love" with Patrick Dempsey, John Cusack`s "Teen Lover" or even "Breakfast Club" and all the other John Hugh`s movies, Will Gluck pays tribute to them here in a quite wonderful way. At the same time he cleverly combines the classics of the genre with modernity, resulting in something fresh, endearing and above all extremely entertaining new that should appeal to younger, but just as much to slightly older viewers.

Director Will Gluck, who has earned his spurs in various comedy series, avoids too flat and raunchy gags and relies instead on clever wordplay (which hopefully could also be saved in the German version over), charming characters and endearing bows to other genre classics. "Einfach zu haben" is the best and most biting high school comedy since "Girls Club - Vorsicht bissig!". Let's just hope that as many moviegoers as possible will realize that. For young and young at heart lovers of the genre is: absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp