At their core, "The Social Network" and "Easy A" are companion pieces. While the Facebook movie is about one kid's desire to fit in and become elite, the Emma Stone comedy is about a kid lying and using sex to get noticed while trying to help other's fit in. Many people say that "The Social Network" is a film that defines a generation but I think it only really defines the smart kids who have the talent to break from their given spot in the social hierarchy. "Easy A" is for most everyone else. It would be nice to think that Mark Zuckerberg is a face of a generation but, sadly, the people who are more representative of this new era are Bristol Palin, Montana Fishburne, and the Kardashians. The bottom line is that not everyone will create Facebook but a lot of people will gain some notoriety (be it good or bad) from the accelerated speed of gossip and innuendo in the internet era.

For me, "Easy A" was almost the anti-"Kids Are Alright". I didn't particularly care for that movie, even though it was well written. To me, it seemed like everyone was just kind of a jerk. In this film, most everyone was fairly likable, even Amanda Bynes as the tight-ass Christian girl (or maybe it was just that she did a great job with the role.) Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson do a great job as Emma Stone's lax but loving parents and the film has a steady amount of laughs throughout. Thomas Haden Church is solid as the teacher everyone loves and also had a great little comment about how he doesn't get the Twitter generation and their need to share everything. The film does venture into after-school specialand near the end but it doesn't go too far and overall the film was completely enjoyable. I'll admit that I went in with lower expectations so it probably benefitted from that but I think that this is a film, unlike Scott Pilgrim, that most everyone will at least chuckle at and would probably enjoy. I'd rank it with it in the same vein as "Fired Up", "Sex Drive", and "Role Models" as surprisingly good comedies (but not great movies by any stretch of the imagination.

As for "The Social Network", it's just a top notch piece of writing and directing. The acting is strong but I think Fincher and Sorkin are the clear favorites for best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay right now. The film has some great dialogue, the set-up of how the story is told is perfect, and the score was also intriguing. Something that went unnoticed, however, were the effects. The fact that Armie Hamme played both twins and that, when both twins were in a shot together, they morphed his face onto another actor, went completely unnoticed. The only reason I knew about it was because I saw in the credit that Hammer played both twins. While I have to admit that the film wasn't exactly thrilling, it was a great piece of storytelling and filmmaking and it made a legit movie out of something that could have been a very boring story. I'd definitely recommend it to everyone.

On a mildly related note, "Date Night" seems like a movie written by and for the older, married, don't get out of the house demographic. It wasn't that funny and was astonishingly tame and seems like the very definition of Been There, Done That. It's like if the person who wrote Adventures in Baby Sitting grew up, lost a lot of his sense of humor, and wanted to tell a more wacked out version of that story but from the parents' point of view. Definitely a flick that can be skipped. Tina Fey does such a great job writing for herself that when she shows up in other movies, it's a let down.