Emma Stone has quite a filmography, and it’s only getting bigger and better. However, two of her funniest films are from 2009 and 2010. The movies are Zombieland and Easy A, and as of July 1, they’re both on Netflix. While the plots of both movies are quite different, both show Emma Stone’s abilities as a comedic actress.

Zombieland centers around a band of four people and how they get together when the United States — and theoretically the world at large — becomes a land full of zombies. Meanwhile, Easy A, which features Stone in her first starring role, is about Olive, whose story spreads across her high school when she lies to her best friend about losing her virginity. Both movies are funny and at times insightful, but the best part of both is how funny they are. Let’s take a closer look at both, and how Emma Stone contributes her comedic chips to them.

What’s Zombieland About?

Emma Stone is one of four stars of Zombieland. In fact, she and Abigail Breslin, who play sisters Wichita and Little Rock respectively, don’t even show up for the first third of the film. The movie starts by following Jesse Eisenberg’s shy, scared Columbus as he explains his rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse.

Columbus is picked up by Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a man who loves 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing zombies. But when the pair go to a grocery store on a mission to find the last Twinkie in the universe for Tallahassee, they run into Wichita and Little Rock, who soon take their guns and their car. While that’s a tough nut to swallow, the girls find the guys a second time, and this time don’t kick them out of the car. The quartet ends up bonding, enjoying their time at Bill Murray’s mansion, and preparing to go to Pacific Playland, an amusement park that the girls have heard is blessedly free of zombies.

What Makes Zombieland So Good?

Zombieland is horror-comedy at its finest. While the movie doesn’t pull its punches about the terrible things that happen during a zombie apocalypse, the quartet at the center of the story (with an assist from Bill Murray) makes sure the movie is amusing. This is mostly due to all the absurd things they do because they can. After all, no one’s watching except the undead.

Emma Stone is particularly good in Zombieland as a young woman who at first seems like she’s only out for herself and her sister. However, she quickly develops feelings for Columbus, despite him being a wimp. While she attempts to deny this and heads off to Pacific Playland with only her sister when Columbus and Tallahassee follow them, she’s not only relieved to see them, but she’s also happy to get a second chance with Columbus. Stone plays every beat of the story believably, from fake crying to make the guys feel bad for her, to real laughing at Bill Murray because he “just gets” her.

What Is Easy A About

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Easy A is more grounded than Zombieland, but no less funny. It may be a high school comedy, but it deals with mature issues; namely, that girls are treated very differently than boys when it comes to 𝓈ℯ𝓍 and relationships, and that leads to a host of problems for Emma Stone’s character Olive.

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See, Olive lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka) so she can get out of going camping with her family. She finds Rhiannon’s parents weird, but she doesn’t want to tell her that, so instead she tells her she has a date. When Rhiannon comes to school on Monday, not only does she ask Olive about her date, but she also assumes that Olive lost her virginity to the guy. A lie that Olive is only too happy to go along with. That is, until it turns out someone else was in the bathroom with them and the story about Olive losing her virginity has now spread like wildfire across the school.

Olive decides to embrace her newfound notoriety, branding herself with a red ‘A’ like Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. She also starts granting guys favors, telling everyone she did everything from make-out with a guy to sleeping with him, as long as they pay her first. But while the guys’ reputations improve, her reputation continues to nosedive. Olive must decide how to save face and perhaps get a shot at her own happiness before her lies spin out of control.

A sequel to the 2010 teen comedy Easy A is now in the works, with characters from the original due to return.

What Makes Easy A so Good?

Despite other big stars in the cast, Easy A is primarily remembered as an Emma Stone vehicle for good reason. Stone is fantastic as a wise-beyond-her-years high-schooler who attempts to make lemonade out of lemons. She leads the cast with an assured — and hilarious — performance, whether she’s faking a 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual liaison with a gay guy or she’s talking to her parents about being sent to the principal’s office.

Plus, the rest of the cast matched her with wonderful performances of their own. Whether it’s Olive’s parents played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, Amanda Bynes as the religious — and judgmental — Marianne, or Penn Badgley as Todd, Olive’s crush, the cast elevates the material. And the movie’s use of locations around Ojai adds a touch of realism to its fictional story, making this an exceptional film all the way around.

While Zombieland and Easy A came out around a decade and a half ago, they’re still startlingly relevant. This is mostly because they’re still both remarkably chuckle-worthy, but their commentary is still important today too. Easy A makes an important point about the double standards on which we continue to judge boys and girls. Zombieland makes good points too; for example, everyone can think of a time they had to “nut up or shut up.” In the end, both movies are worth a watch if you haven’t seen them yet, and if you have, you can enjoy them again on Netflix.