The more I think about Juno being nominated for a Best Picture Oscar the more offended I get that Knocked Up was completely overlooked by the Academy.
Both films brush on the same themes and have the same dilemma (unwanted pregnancy) as the crux of their plots, yet they handle this issue in such different ways with Knocked Up to far greater success, that I find myself thinking, again, “What the hell is the average movie-going public thinking?”
Diablo Cody’s script for Juno was full of so many snappy one-liners, pithy dialog and parent-child one upmanship that I couldn’t tell if I was watching a movie or an exercise in conceit. People like to go to movies like Juno because we like to demonstrate how smart we are. It’s like everyone in the theater is patting themselves on the back and winking at the screen after another whip-smart line from Ellen Page. You look around the theater, give knowing nods to the strangers seated next to you and make a strained effort to laugh at the right jokes. You see? We get it. We belong.
But isn’t this completely disingenuous? Do people really talk like that, let alone 17-year old high school girls? I’d like to think that every family would deal with such an event with the patience, understanding and grace seen in the film. The real world, however, is far more complicated than simply having the right attitude. We are all, after all, human. We make mistakes. We handle those mistakes poorly and what happens in life is often far more ugly and messy than what you see printed on the silver screen of the latest Hollywood indie darlings.
What impressed me so much about Knocked Up is that Judd Apatow gets it. Life isn’t easy. When a crisis hits we often don’t tackle it head-on. Instead we go to Vegas and eat shrooms. We make mistakes. We get frustrated. We stop looking for that job after a few lousy interviews and sit at home feeling sorry for ourselves. We escape.
The characters in Knocked Up deal with their issues in such sloppy, self-destructive ways that we can only relate. Yes the characters in Juno are sharp as tacks and can handle the latest crisis like any minor inconvenience. We get the jokes. But that isn’t us. We keep secrets. We play in secret fantasy baseball leagues so our wives don’t interrupt “guy time.”
And while it’s true that Knocked Up ends on a “Hollywood moment” note I don’t see how else the movie can end and succeed. Perhaps that’s the limitation of the Hollywood system. Call it unfair.
But life isn’t fair. Jobs suck. Relationships are hard. Breakups are devastating. Pass the bong.
Tags: Diablo Cody, Hollywood, Judd Apatow, Juno, Knocked Up, Oscars
March 26, 2008 at 1:53 am
A-men.
March 26, 2008 at 2:37 pm
The true strength of Juno is not Ellen Page’s character but her relationship with the adopting parents.
“The real world . . . is far more complicated than simply having the right attitude. We are all, after all, human. We make mistakes. We handle those mistakes poorly and what happens in life is often far more ugly and messy than what you see printed on the silver screen . . . . We make mistakes. We get frustrated. We stop looking for that job after a few lousy interviews and sit at home feeling sorry for ourselves. We escape.”
I can’t think of a better representation of that sentiment than Jason Bateman’s crumbling relationship with Jennifer Garner seen through the eyes of Juno. Yes, the movie’s chock full of winky indie-isms, but beneath that veneer is a story of how the world is versus how we want it to be. That’s the lesson that Jennifer Garner already knows, Jason Bateman doesn’t want to know and Juno is forced to learn.
March 26, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Harris, you’re absolutely spot on. But I suppose my point is that Knocked Up, as a movie, accomplishes what it sets out to do far more successfully than Juno. And it bothers me that it went unrecognized.
March 29, 2008 at 2:27 am
Oh, Diablo Canyon 2. Why can’t you be more like Diablo Canyon 1?