Emma Stone – A Star is Born

It feels weird typing Emma Stone because that is my daughter’s name. Nonetheless, it’s time to really take serious notice of Emma Stone in Easy A. This buzz has been kicking around a while, and I was thinking maybe a Golden Globe frontrunner for musical/comedy (with some stiff competition). But I’m also wondering if she might not be in the Julia Robert/Reese Witherspoon/Melanie Griffith territory with her work on this film, considering the high praise she’s been getting.

Golden Globe is a certainty. Oscar, who knows. It’s a tough category and there are some truly brilliant performances this year. But there is always room for a good comedic performance, particularly when an actress makes this kind of a splash. I’m still on the fence with this but I thought it was time to make it official.

Joe Morgenstern:

Why, then, am I so pleased with “Easy A”? Because the movie, despite a few flaws, seems to have been made by higher intelligence, and because it catapults Emma Stone into a higher place reserved for American actors who can handle elevated language with casually dazzling aplomb.

David Edelstein:

But the movie belongs to Stone, that gorgeous, husky-voiced redhead. When most actors deliver nonstop patter, their mouths get ahead of their minds, but Stone’s brain works so fast that her mouth can barely keep up. She has a near-telepathic link with the audience: She makes our brains run faster, too.