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Olive, an average high school student, sees her below-the-radar existence turn around overnight once she decides to use the school's gossip grapevine to advance her social standing. Now her classmates are turning against her and the school board is becoming concerned, including her favorite teacher and the distracted guidance counselor. With the support of her hilariously idiosyncratic parents and a little help from a long-time crush, Olive attempts to take on her notorious new identity and crush the rumor mill once and for all.
2010 · Directed by Will Gluck · 93 min · Comedy · Screenplay in the scene database · 15 frames
Tagline
Let's not and say we did.
Plot
The story is narrated by Olive Penderghast, a 17-year-old high school student living in Ojai, California, speaking into her webcam. Desperate to avoid going on a camping trip with her best friend Rhiannon Abernathy and Rhiannon's hippie parents, Olive dishonestly claims she is going on a date with a college boy that weekend; truthfully, she stays home all weekend listening to "Pocketful of Sunshine" from a musical greeting card her grandmother sent her. Pressed by Rhiannon the following Monday, Olive eventually lies about having lost her virginity to her fictional date. Prudish, devout Christian student Marianne Bryant overhears their conversation, and Olive's story soon spreads throughout the school. The school's church group, run by Marianne, decides to "save" Olive from her supposed promiscuity. Olive confides the truth to her classmate Brandon, a gay student who is bullied for his sexual orientation. She agrees to serve as his "beard" and pretend to have sex with him at a teen party so people will believe he is straight.
After a fight with Rhiannon, Olive decides to embrace her new reputation as a "tramp" and begins to dress more provocatively. She stitches a red "A" onto her clothes, inspired by Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, which she has been reading in English class. Boys who have had no previous luck with girls beg Olive to increase their popularity by letting them claim they have had sex with her, which she does in exchange for gift cards to various stores. Marianne's ex-boyfriend Micah contracts chlamydia from having sex with the school guidance counselor, Mrs. Griffith, but claims Olive was the one who gave it to him. Because Mrs. Griffith's husband, Mr. Griffith, is Olive's favorite teacher, she accepts the blame to spare their marriage.
The church youth group, now including Rhiannon, begins harassing Olive in an attempt to get her to drop out of school. She goes on a date with Rhiannon's crush, Anson, which ends with her storming off angrily after he tries bribing her to actually have sex with him and not just claim that she did. Olive reconnects with Todd, her childhood crush and the school mascot, who says he does not believe the rumors because she lied for him when he was not ready for his first kiss years ago. She asks everyone who paid her to admit the truth, but nobody is willing to relinquish their newfound reputations. When Mrs. Griffith refuses to admit to her affair with Micah, Olive threatens to expose her; Mrs. Griffith says no one would believe her. Olive immediately informs Mr. Griffith, who subsequently separates from his wife.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Bert V. Royal
- Cinematography: Michael Grady
- Edited by: Susan Littenberg
- Music: Brad Segal
- Production design: Marcia Hinds
- Produced by: Zanne Devine, Will Gluck
Cast
- Emma Stone as Olive
- Penn Badgley as Woodchuck Todd
- Amanda Bynes as Marianne
- Dan Byrd as Brandon
- Thomas Haden Church as Mr. Griffith
- Patricia Clarkson as Rosemary
- Cam Gigandet as Micah
- Lisa Kudrow as Mrs. Griffith
- Malcolm McDowell as Principal Gibbons
- Aly Michalka as Rhiannon
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Screen Gems, Olive Bridge Entertainment
- Budget: $8,000,000
- Box office: $75,026,327
- Themes: high school, small town, lie, loss of virginity, coming of age, teen movie, school, female protagonist, high school student, teen comedy
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