Director: Will Gluck
Year Released: 2010
Rating: 2.0
A bookish high schooler (Emma Stone) tells a white lie to her chatty, chesty friend (Aly Michalka) about hooking up with a (made up) college student, and before she knows it the story gets around and she's labeled a slut - then she decides to take advantage of her 'labeling' and has 'fake relations' with guys at school in exchange for gift cards. The underlying story - a re-do of The Scarlet Letter - is pretty smart and highlights some relevant issues with high school-aged students - the double standards regarding sexual behavior (guys become studs, gals become whores), the way gossip gets out of hand (and ridiculous in the process) and the inability of people to shake labels placed on them (either truthful or false) - but it's also intensely silly, overacted and overloaded with pop songs, and there's a ridiculous - and poorly developed - subplot involving an STD (and a guidance counselor) that adds an air of ugliness to the picture. Stone's sass and delivery should keep her active in comedies for a while - even though she's a doll, she can pull off home-body with no problem - while Amanda Bynes needs to stop acting like she's still on the Disney Channel. Lisa Kudrow's character has a nice line: "A real whore can't admit it to herself, let alone others." Oh really....
