High school student Olive - do parents name their daughters Olive nowadays? - acquires the reputation of a sleeparound slut when in reality she remains virginal and as good as good can be and in a display of logic that defied mine plays up the image when fellow students refuse to acknowledge the truth.
Critics here have commended Emma Stone for her personality and comedic style and the film for it's above average witty screenplay and I can see some merit in those opinions. But the film itself left me quite uneasy.
At a time when bullying is a problem and young gay men are being encouraged that 'it will get better' here is a film that has a gay student paying a girl to make it appear he has had sex with her in order to end bullying and conceal his sexuality. The behaviour of the students in the film is almost without exception unattractive and often nasty.
A school teacher is depicted as passing on a sexually transmitted disease to one of the students and this is treated as just another humorous element.
The girl's parents are depicted as so hip and understanding (or whatever the current equivalent terminology) to the point that I found them to be an irritation and unbelievable. I longed for them to quit their endless wise cracking and knowing comments.
The film is, notwithstanding the above, a cut above what is usual in this genre but it's messages are regrettably very mixed.
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