Overrated is an understatement

Rating: 3/10 (10 February 2008)

You know what, something must be very rotten in Hollywood these days when the likes of Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Man and Atonement are getting nominations and awards. Unless "There Will be Blood" (which I haven't seen yet) is the intelligent, well directed epic I expect it to be, I sure hope that the above mentioned average-at-best flicks will be deservingly dwarfed at this years Oscars by the unlikely hero Juno turned out to be.
Now, don't get me wrong, I just love epic melodrama and I'm also a sucker for Merchant-Ivory, and, well, anything that contains a half-decent love story, beautiful photography, British and French landscapes and sexy British upper crust accents. And yes, I can even tolerate a bit of shallowness if the listed-above compensates in sufficient amounts. But what really annoys me (in any genre) is blatant pretentiousness.
This film oozes egomania. The direction is snobbish in a way that the director seems to be more interested in proving his "ingenuity" than in telling the story. And truth be told, there's not much story to tell. After the interesting, yet not less annoying first 45 minutes comes the stupidest waste of money I have seen in a long while. The complicated 5 minute shot that everybody's heard about even before the movie came out - huge disappointment. And you know what - Hitchcock's been there. Spielberg's been there. De Palma's been there. Now, if you have nothing new or interesting to say about it - get out or you can surely expect to be humiliated by your incompetence compared to the masters. But no! This director (known only for the single stupider period piece than this one - the lousiest adaptation of Pride and Prejudice ever) had huge appetites to satisfy. And hence - we are served with a boring, pretentious, overly stylized shot of what a coast in WWII France never looked like and the disillusioning effect created by McAavoy leaving the shot from time to time that should never happen if you expect your audience to be drawn in the movie and sympathize with the hero.
McCavoy is a great actor and we can surely expect great things from him in the future. But, hello, will the industry get over Keira Knightly already?! That woman is no actress. All she can do is pout her lips and strike a pose. The supporting cast is better than the leads, the photography is great, music is just fine, but, at the end of the day, who cares? If you do a love story and fail to engage the audience, fail to make them root for the couple in trouble, you failed period. We shouldn't reward movies for their redeeming qualities but as accomplishments as a whole.
Go Juno!