Exaggerating the themes of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, new comedy film Easy A uses a modern setting and a witty script to put a new take on an American classic.

For those who have not read The Scarlet Letter, it tells the story of a young adulteress named Hester Prynne who is forced to wear a scarlet “A” on chest as punishment and as a symbol of shame. In the movie, this character is portrayed as Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone), a humorous teenager who feels invisible to all males.

Though I expected this movie to be trashy, silly and rather pointless, I nevertheless decided to go and see it. While my assumptions were mostly correct, I was pleasantly surprised by the film’s content.

The movie takes place in a small high school campus in Ojai, California. Due to its size and the nature of high school students, gossip and news travel fast. While the film exaggerated this point by having the whole school know Olive’s secret in a matter of minutes, it was effective in making the point.

In Easy A, the school Bible-thumper, Marianne (Amanda Bynes), overhears Olive appeasing her nagging friend by telling her she has lost her virginity. Though Olive had said this lie simply to make her best friend shut up, Marianne proceeds to tell the entire school about her promiscuity, labeling Olive as “easy.”

Feeling that her new status is unavoidable, Olive embraces it by purchasing risqu