It's not like the critics blindfolded me and dragged me to the nearest UA theater and forced me to sit down and watch the mega-hyped indie flick JUNO. No I went on my own volition. How could I not go? EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE was talking about this movie. So I went to my favorite website, www.rottentomatoes.com to see what they thought of it. It received a 93% out of a 100% rating. Wow. I have to see this movie about a pregnant 16 year-old. I should have known by that very brief one line synopsis that there was something wrong. Whenever anyone explained the movie to me they'd say, "Wow, it's so good. It's about this pregnant 16 year-old and she's funny and the movie is funny and it's really cute. You have to go see it." So I'm filling in the blanks in between. because I'm thinking, people are so overwhelmed by this film that they can't find the right words to explain what happens in the movie.
Okay, so let me say this. I liked JUNO. Very much. We haven't seen a 16 year-old protagonist this clever and smart in a long time. The kids rule in this movie. (Which is why I think it's a mega hit to begin with, teenagers are living their prego fantasies out in this one.) Again, the movie is well directed, very well acted, and well written. So what's my problem with it? It's over hyped. This is not better than LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. That's all I've been hearing in the media. No, this is not better. The biggest problem I had with JUNO is that the writer couldn't shut the hell up and get out of the way.
Diablo Cody, the writer of JUNO is going to be a big star. This girl is this gorgeous ex-stripper who now writes screenplays and teleplays. She just sold a teleplay called The United States of Tara. Diablo can write. I thought JUNO was a well constructed piece of film. It was also touching, funny and very original. But at one point, I'm watching JUNO and the words coming out of that kid's mouth were way to sophisticated and dated. I didn't feel a lot of this dialogue was organic. It was contrived. The writer needed to tell us how much she loved Punk music. We know this to be true because in Diablo's bios she says so.
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE was brilliant. JUNO is clever. But if you ask me, it's not the best film of the year. It can't possibly beat out NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
So this whole experience got me thinking about hype. Hype is dangerous. Not at this level but let's take it a step further into politics. All you've heard about lately in the media is the names Barack and Hillary. If you happened to have caught Michael Moore's film SICKO, you would have found out that Hillary got the biggest payoff from lobbyists. Granted for years she tried to implement the universal health plan (socialized medicine) and lost. In fact, she coldn't utter the words universal health care ever again. But why Hillary, did you take that money? I know I'm going in a whole different direction here but I wanted to show what hype does to a nation. Did you also know that Barack Obama is noted as being the 2nd largest recipient from a lobbyist in the health care industry? A lot of people don't know this. Does Oprah know this? I'd like to ask Barack why? That's all. Why did you take the money. But no one will care to find out. They just think it's cool to vote for the black guy or the woman. And the person with the least hype John Edwards, has done more good and yet no one hears about it. He's taken a lot of these insurance companies to court and have help a lot of people in the interim.
Let's go another direction now: Brittany Spears. Since when do I care to know what happens to this child? I don't want to hear anything else about Brittany. Leave that poor kid alone and let her get her life together. But I know, that in the next week, her face will appear on AOL again as I sign on. What is the hype about?
The film CRASH was pretty much panned by the most influential movie critics, yet the people wouldn't let that film die and eventually it won an Academy Award. I like that kind of hype. But is that considered hype? You know, that kind of hype that saves a good intentioned thing from falling to obscurity. Well according to the dictionary hype is described as
Extravagant or intensive publicity, a deception carried out for the sake of publicity, and the original definition of hype is A PERSON WHO CHEATS. Interesting...
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