To cover up for an embarassingly plain weekend a small town high school student Olive invents a lie about sleeping with a College guy.The lie spreads and as people notice her for the first time she’s forced to use her new found notoriety to help some misfits.
Unlike most teen comedies nowadays it shows that losing virginity is scandalous in the small town school she belonged to and gets targeted by Religious students as a result.A gay classmate tormented for his sexual orientation seeks her help and despite initial reluctance she agrees. They stage a fake sex scene which helps the guy gain acceptance but gets her labelled as a skank.
As the rumor mill gets to work she sees her life spiralling out of control and it begins to resemble that of Hester Prynne’s in “The Scarlet Letter,” which they are currently studying in school .Getting inspired by the same she decides to pin a scarlet A to her dresses. As various misfits- the fat guy,the nerd,the Indian student(in a small town),etc approach her she starts trading favors for spreading the rumors.But this makes her notorious as the rumor mill becomes more vicious.
She has a crush on a classmate who’s the school Mascot but being shy has never been able to express it. She seeks a romantic comedy like romance but as things spiral out of control and her favorite teacher tries to help her she ends up getting dragged into a bigger mess.All her actions have a nice motive but her life becomes hellish as the consequences set in. In the midst of all the attention she becomes lonelier than ever before.
Unable to confide in her parents(the coolest movie parents ever) and being intelligent yet sensitive she finally decides she’s had enough and makes an intricate plan to dig herself out of the hole.She ends up exposing some dark secrets and shows some people for what they really are.
But the U.S.P of the movie is its intelligent dialogue and the brilliant acting by Emma Stone as Olive.Theytransform this simple plot into a great feel good movie and i dare you to finish the movie without a smile on your face.
Romantic,engaging and really funny.I rate it 8.5/10 and recommend as a must watch as a mood elevator.
Few good lines from the movie-
Marianne: There’s a higher power that will judge you for your indecency.
Olive Penderghast: Tom Cruise?
Brandon: Is there an Olive here?
Rosemary: There’s a whole jar of them in the fridge!
Rosemary(Olive’s mother): Any friend of Olive’s is a friend of my daughter.
Olive Penderghast: That’s the one thing that trumps religion… capitalism.
Mr. Griffith: I don’t know what your generation’s fascination is with documenting your every thought… but I can assure you, they’re not all diamonds. “Roman is having an OK day, and bought a Coke Zero at the gas station. Raise the roof.” Who gives a rat’s ass?
Olive Penderghast: Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80’s movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80’s movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life.
Dill: After we watch “The Bucket List,” remember to cross “watch ‘The Bucket List'” off our bucket list.
