We need to take another long hard look at why this movie doesn't work...at all.

Rating: 2/10 (17 December 2007)

The buzz on JUNO is an example of herd-mentality, the exact kind of mentality that writer Diablo Cody is supposed to represent an alternative to, but doesn't, at all.
Juno is a cultural touchstone, but not because it's any good  it's because perhaps more than any other film to date, it represents that alternative has gone mainstream. Next step - VH1's "What ever happened to..." special.
The "fierce wit" of the dialog in Juno is only a marginal step above a Gilmore Girls episode, and because of its marginal betterness, it's ten times less likely to come out of the mouths of any of the characters that speak it.
A 16-year old making an easy-breezy "thundercats" reference? Are you kidding me? There's no way Ellen Page's character would know about the show let alone have any sort of affinity for it. A dude at the drug store speaking in prosaic rhyming urban prose? Diddle...undone...home skillet?
The only reason the dialog flies is because its "cute," and "sharp," but "real," "honest," and "authentic," could never be applied. Without these touchstones, it's all pantomime, an elevated form of speech that may be funny now because it feels contemporary, but will surly date itself before you can say Jun...
What's worse, because everyone speaks this way, its clear that all the characters are written by exactly the same person.
If you really look at it, the writer never puts herself in the shoes of anyone other than herself. She can't relate to these characters, so she sells them out by "elevating" what they actually might say to a level that is unintentionally detached, overly-ironic and in no way sincere.
Just as over-sized shoes and a goofy hat don't necessarily make you funny, snappy comments and overripe dialog don't necessarily make you witty. If anything, I would argue they often produce the opposite effect.
Clowns freak me out. So does this movie. There's something evil about it. I feel like it represents closet socio-pathology - its moments that work all stem from Cody's inability to empathize, rather than her ability to.
I'm upset to see so many people earnestly routing for a movie that doesn't know the first thing about earnestness. Let's think for ourselves and stop supporting a film and writer that can't seem to feel for anyone.