I saw Juno yesterday, finally, after weeks of meaning to. A frustrating experience. It was beautifully acted. And - with one exception - well written for all the characters.
That exception would be the title role: Juno. The actress is a delight. The part.... well, she's a smart-mouthed, quirky, 16-year-old girl who rapid-fires out dialogue less like an intelligent teenager in a bit of a pickle, and more like a burnt-out, stand-up comedian who's stayed up all night desperately trying to come up with uber-cool snappy answers to stupid questions. I know teenagers. I know adults. NO-ONE TALKS LIKE THIS. It's like a bad episode of Gilmore Girls or Bringing Up Baby, to show two other examples of this type of talk-over-truth. How could I not enjoy Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn? Well I didn't. Bringing Up Baby was agony for me from start to finish. So it's a comedy.... so what? I want to believe it emotionally. I want to feel the actors say what they have to say, not remark on how well they are spitting out their excruciatingly over-composed dialogue.
With Juno the film tries way too hard to be quirky and it was very frustrating because it appeared to be the one wrong move in the whole thing.
I'm glad I saw it though. It's just that one huge sound sore in the middle of it, rather like a nasty looking pimple on an alabaster brow.
The popcorn was consistent throughout.
2 comments:
Can't say I agree with you about Bringing Up Baby (or Gilmore Girls, for that matter!), but you're dead on about Juno. It was quirky, but in a wholly manufactured way, as if a committee designed the perfect movie for the Sundance crowd.
Looks like the Oscar crowd likes it too. I liked the movie a lot, just had a prob with the way the lead's part was written. But it seems that a lot of other people disagree with me. I've had some passionate conversations about it already. But I like that... it makes for some interesting times. :)
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