So here's the deal: I'm a huge snob when it comes to movies, but I'm too busy being lazy/packing/celebrating my first college acceptance/falling in love with Jon Hamm on 30 Rock to get worked up about Hollywood's current state. Not to worry, close to the Oscar ceremony I'll definitely post my rants and bitchery for all to see, especially when Frost/Nixon walks away with nothing *shakes fist at sky*, but as for now I'm just typing up a list I wrote around this time last year about what I feel is one of the most overrated movies of the decade:
[Quick disclaimer: I wrote this at 2 A.M. after the Oscar Ceremony when Juno won for Best Screenplay, so please forgive my excessive expletives, as I was dealing with injustices of the highest magnitude.]
Ten Reasons Juno Upsets Me:
1) It's the first Fox Searchlight movie I've seen that doesn't feel genuine, in that it TRIES SO HARD to be quirky and hip and *indie* rather than just being that way.
2) I never, EVER want to receive a hamburger phone bumper sticker on facebook again. EVER.
3) The screenplay contained some of the most frustrating dialogue I've ever heard. Yes, I realize that realism wasn't what Diablo Cody was going for, but rather than being cute and offbeat, it was just pretentious and, well, assy.
4) Juno didn't sound like a sixteen-year-old. At all. She sounded like a 30-year-old blogger pretending to be sixteen. Surprise, surprise, guess who the screenwriter was?
5) Diablo Cody was also an ex-stripper, and that's fine by me, a job's a job and that's more than I have at the moment. The fact that that was what basically constituted her whole Oscar campaign is, however, truly ridiculous.
6) Jason Reitman directed Thank You For Smoking and this is the movie he gets an Oscar nomination for? Really, Academy?!? Congratulations on showing the world how subtlety is not your forte. TYSF was exceedingly smart, witty, and subtle, and I personally just don't understand how anyone with an IQ equaling Forrest Gump's could see those things in Juno, other than in some of the performances.
7) This was basically one of the first really popular movie to cash in on the fact that the term indie now functions as a genre, and if the movie had made more of a point to acknowledge that, I would have enjoyed it much more. Had it been more of a parody, it could have been brilliant. But it wasn't, and instead I feel like the film's hitting me with a pseudo-hipter shovel.
8) I felt close to nothing for the characters, and the little I did care was due to the performances, which were absolutely the best part of the movie.
9) The screenplay sacrificed character development and depth for ostentatious, hollow dialogue. That's unforgivable, especially considering the aforementioned caliber of the cast.
10) My true reason for writing this: Juno keeps being referred to as this year's Little Miss Sunshine. Absolutely not. LMS's screenplay was beautiful, especially in that it primarily concerned itself with CHARCATERS not WORDS. In fact, once in a while in Little Miss Sunshine, there are these glorious little moments when none of the characters speak. Its called silence, Diablo, and a good screenwriter knows the importance of it. And also, watch Lars and the Real Girl and take notes of Nancy Oliver's screenplay, because it was everything your movie was trying so hard to be: dark, quirky, and, yes, indie. But it was also immensely impactful, and that was due to the fact that the characters were the center of the movie. Here's my point Cody: congratulations on the Oscar, but backlash is a bitch, and if you don't hurry up and learn that the heart of all good movies is character, you won't be getting another award anytime soon.
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There's a skill to trying to decide whether you agree with a critic when you have not seen the films the critic is describing. In this case, I am virtually certain that I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteJuno is not the type of film that I am likely to see, and I didn't see it. I like your comment that "indie" has become a genre. How ridiculous is that? But, perhaps not so much, because they all seem to take place in a middle class suburban mileiu, and guns are thankfully absent. Anyway, I ramble. I was going to see LMS, on Ms. Johnson's recommendation (she's a good judge of stuff) but I let it slip. Maybe I'll do a Netflix on that one.
To sum up. If this is what I can expect from you this semester, then I can quote Bogie's last line from Casablanca. "this is the start of beautiful friendship."
I don't really object to indie movies becoming a genre and the new "cool" thing to do, so long as those movies are actually good and don't just try to be cute. To be fair, LMS is also a typical indie movie(dysfunctional family, road trip, etc.)but it's just a very good one. If you get the chance you should probably watch it, all the performances are great and it does have some existential themes. Also, the last ten minute make me happier than anything.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Casablanca is one of my all-time favorites, so that quote is much appreciated.
These posts of yours are such fun for me because the only examples of your prose that I've read are American history essays, a genre not generally noted for the fulsomeness of its phraseology. A lot more of "you" comes through on this than it did on, say, your analytical treatment of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
ReplyDeleteAw, thank you. To be fair, while American history is interesting, movies tend to be my life, pathetic as that may be. So it makes sense that more of "me" would come off here.
ReplyDeleteShiran,
ReplyDeleteI must agree with most of what you say here. I have heard how amazing and awesome Juno was, I watched it and was thoroughly underwhelmed and I quickly got sick of what I thought was stupid dialogue that was trying to hard. Some of it was very easy to relate to, especially with Michael Cera being a high-school runner, I definitely know about that. However, I have tried watching parts of it two more times and as I've said, there are some good parts but on the whole I found the film to not be worth the praise it received.
I actually feel exactly the opposite way that you do concerning Little Miss Sunshine. I did not like Little Miss Sunshine at all. I thought there were only 2 good performances: Arkin and Dano. The plot of the dysfunctional family was way too convenient that EVERYBODY in the family was messed up in some way, and CONVENIENENTLY all of them have to spend time in a mini bus together. The ending was the part of the movie I hated most. The entire movie was a satire of an American family (albeit over the top American family), and then the movie simply falls into the category of a farce. The entire film was the definition of a black comedy, and then at the end it was like something out of an Adam Sandler movie.
ReplyDeleteAw, I'm sorry you didn't like it. It's interesting to see how we interpreted the movie so differently. I didn't think it was primarily meant to be a farce of a black comedy. Those elements were there, but I guess I was just more attracted to the theme of "winners" and "losers", etc. I do agree that the plot was a little obvious and convenient, but it didn't really stop my enjoyment in the film.
ReplyDeletehaha Shiran this list was great. I agree with you on a lot of stuff you said. I remember thinking how funny Juno was in the beginning and then getting a little annoyed with all the snarky cutesy remarks. This movie tried really hard to overwhelm us by being offbeat and didn't deliver the way it could have. I empathize with your frustration over it winning best screenplay. But I think Juno was really a victim of its own hype. It was one of those movies that was taken way too seriously by too many people, including its own writer, and then inspired a lot of backlash.
ReplyDelete