Sometimes, when it comes down to it, you just like a thing because it’s likable. No one reason looms large; generally it is just pleasurable. That’s kind of how I feel about the American actor Emma Stone. I simply want good things for her.
I first saw Stone, 28, in 2007’s Superbad. The film has many flaws (is anyone this interested in teenage boys’ lives?) but she is not one of them. As Jules, she’s a breath of fresh air: husky-voiced, knowingly wide-eyed, and somewhat gawky (but not in the usual romcom-heroine-in-mild-peril way). A lot of her allure is in her eyes, if I have to pin it down: they are bug eyes, and they make her face arresting, which is more interesting than uncomplicated beauty (perhaps it’s no surprise she once said she’d most like to have a coffee with comic legend Gilda Radner, also a bit buggy). They are eyes that accommodate both comedy and pathos. She displayed a nice balance of each in Birdman, and was Oscar-nominated for her performance.
My favourite Stone is the one in Easy A, a modern reworking of The Scarlet Letter, in which she is a firecracker with real heart. Who expected to be so moved by a teen movie? It helped me studiously overlook quietly tragic career missteps like Magic In The Moonlight (2014) and Aloha (2015). “You are better than these,” I wanted to tell her, like we’re friends. And maybe someone else told her, because she is the star of current awards hoover La La Land, a musical that lets her be a little odd, with plenty of heart.
More, please.
