LAYOUT--My editor asked for a movie review for this month's A&E pages. So, here 'tis.

P.S. For all those out partying on St. Paddy's day tonight whilst I tarry here...fuck you all.

An Education deserves attention
It’s not hard to admit—I was prejudiced in favor of An Education before walking into the theater. For one thing, Lone Scherfig’s narrative of a young English schoolgirl seduced by a con man (played to snake oil salesman-perfection by Peter Sarsgaard) wasn’t getting much Oscar press. Avatar was getting a going-over by film critics about whether James Cameron was throwing around too many special effects and not enough original story, while Jeff Bridges’ tour de force in Crazy Heart was only starting to leak into the headlines.

But An Education, from a memoir by Lynn Barber and a script by Nick Hornby (About a Boy), wasn’t getting much commentary. And that’s a shame—the film is engaging and contemplative, playing an old, familiar song yet still managing to say something new.

Carey Mulligan is Jenny, a precocious sixteen-year-old who gets a ride from David (Sarsgaard), a mid-thirties motorist, in the pouring rain. The two get to talking, and with one thing and another, become pretty friendly. He marvels up front at how literate and cultured she is, while Jenny bemoans her dreary life in her working class neighborhood. It’s only a matter of time before David is wooing her, first taking her to a concert and dinner with friends, then later spiriting her to Oxford to meet his buddy C.S. Lewis.

It’s a bit of a stretch to imagine David getting away with this, but Scherfig pulls it off with several scenes in which David seduces Jenny’s family just as flawlessly as he does her: her father Jack (Alfred Molina) and mother Marjorie (Cara Seymour) are all too willing to pull the wool over their own eyes after David shows up with a bottle of wine and some good conversation. “Knowing a famous author is better than becoming one,” Jack tells his daughter at one point. “It shows you’re connected.” And yes, you can spend the weekend with a man twice your age. Blech.

Jenny becomes tight with David and his friends Danny and Helen (Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike), although the parties, concerts and weekend trips don’t quite explain their habit of stealing paintings from open houses, or David’s real estate scams. Clearly, this guy is more than a little shady, but Jenny doesn’t care, or at least she doesn’t care enough. It’s only a matter of time before seduction rears its head, but it’s pulled off tastefully enough.

There is a romance, physical intimacy (more cringe-inducing than anything else), a marriage proposal, the works. Her English teacher warns her of the pitfall before her, while her headmistress (Emma Thompson) tells her off in a beautifully scathing scene. But Jenny, anyone at that age, can’t be told anything by anyone over thirty, and that’s when the tragedy kicks in. (Am I hinting at anything here? Nah.)

Thankfully, An Education doesn’t fall into any clichés or narrative fallbacks of the seduction narrative. Mulligan was up for Best Actress for her performance, and it’s hard to justify her getting passed over. Her performance makes you want to both ride to Jenny’s rescue and scream yourself hoarse at her idiocy. Sarsgaard didn’t even get an Oscar nod, which is a shame. His character oozes duplicity, and at times, he comes off as even younger than Mulligan, even while he’s using his age like a cloak to cover up his ugly little secrets. Their futures don’t look especially promising—Mulligan is in a Wall Street sequel next year, while Sarsgaard is playing second fiddle to Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming Green Lantern. However, An Education is a thoughtful piece of work that will hopefully stand the test of time and become the yardstick these two fine actors are measured by in years to come.