True confession: I adore teenage movies. It seems I just never grew out of my John Hughes phase. Forget the fact that I'm a 39 year old mother of three. Actually, I think that's the main reason I still like these films - they let me forget that I'm a 39 year old mother of three.
Yesterday I settled in for Easy A. It's one of the best teen movies I've ever seen (and we're talking over 20 years of dedicated watching here, folks). I laughed, I cried, I winced, I cowered, I guffawed. It's that good. Emma Stone is a modern day Molly Ringwald, but fortunately wittier, prettier and much less pathetic. Her parents are to-die-for (I can't say I ever even noticed Molly's parents in any of her flicks... teen flick parents are clearly aimed at, well, parents).
Of course, the real charm of teen movies these days is getting to hang out with the real-life teens who go to see them. As I sat in the cinema surrounded by over 120 teenage girls yesterday, I couldn't help but get sucked into the effervescent fizz and pop of teen-girl life. The energy level in that cinema was of football stadium standard. Everywhere I looked there was a colourful display of hand flapping, lip smacking, hip-waggling, oh-mi-godding motion.
Do mums of teen girls feel the way I felt all the time? Alive with the spirit of what if. The rush of perfect dramas, the excitement of anything can happen, the raw possibilities of living. Being with those girls made me want to tap dance on a moon lit by dazzling stars. Forget the inner child, the inner teen, like, totally rocks.
So, do go see Easy A. It's a top little film and the teenage girl inside you will thank you for it. Then again... she probably won't!