and its about time we knew a woman writer's name.

unrealistic dialog? ever see a movie called Good Will Hunting? bad ass film, ridiculous dialog.

the rest are just nuts.

not saying popularity = quality (Titanic, anyone?) but I mean come on. there has to be an element of "I have to be different and cool" to anyone that hates on a funny, sweet movie like Juno. right? it's like calling a kitten ugly.

the scene where Juno drops off the note, and Bateman doesn't get it, but Jennifer Garner does...

the note being framed, the contents of which we don't see until after the reveal of what happens with the pregnancy, so that it gives us new insight into Juno's character, and her plan.

the conversations between Juno and Pauly, if not very realistic in some parts, are very well plotted out.

the characters of Juno's parents are both portrayed amazingly by Simmons and C.J. Craig, but their characters were unusual and interesting ON THE PAGE. having the pregnant teen's parents be so endlessly devoted, yet not 1-dimensional, is an extremely difficult thing to write.

the scene where Juno and Bateman share a moment, and because of how well fleshed out their characters are, the tension is SO intense, we just HATE the idea that they might kiss, or something might happen. and in a lesser movie, they probably would have.

little lines like Juno's friend talking about Woody Allen, the conversation between Juno's stepmom and the lab tech.

the movie succeeds because it's written amazingly well. people get hung up on the indie music, the weird visual style, the teen dialogue, and they think that it's the emperor's new clothes. people love to hate things like that. but it's really not what the movie is about, and I question the attention span of anyone that thinks that's all there is to this film. there are plenty of quirky movies with all of those surface things, but none of them are as successful commercially and critically as Juno, because that's all they have. there's no there there. beneath all of that stuff, in Juno, was a tremendously well-written movie.

When Pauly wins the race, and runs right out of the stadium, with the voiceover and everything, I mean that is PERFECT. it's shot well, and it's acted well, but if you read the script, that was ALL RIGHT ON THE PAGE.

Juno was well written, period. the irony here is that I am not as inclined as many other people to think Diabo Cody has a huge amount more great scripts in her. she's a first timer, and she may have just blown her whole life's worth of great ideas in 90 minutes. who knows?

But Juno is all about the writing, that's all I have to say.

what people remember of a film, or talk about, or whatever, is irrelevant to me. people might not even recognize that the writing in a film like Juno is what sets it apart from other films, but it is. and people clearly gravitated towards it. they don't have to understand the intricacies of screenwriting in order to appreciate it.

and do I find it slightly annoying when people ask themselves questions and then answer them? yes.

and I do believe people remember dialogue more than any other single thing from movies they like. how can you argue that? they quote them constantly, that's what people do. remember any lines from Transformers? well that's cos it sucked, hence my original point. I'm not worried about being "backed into corners". partly because it's an AICN talkback, let's not get too deep here. but mostly because I happily admit if I change my mind, am proven wrong, or if I have misspoken. misstyped? well anyway, you get the point.

as for the Clerks comparison, I thank you for that for 2 reasons. one, it's nice that we agree that Clerks is pretty damn terrible. we have some common ground!

two, it illustrates the difference in our opinion on Juno. Juno is NOTHING like Clerks, in my opinion, and shouldn't be compared. Juno is much more of a complete package, and it has not been revered simply for being something new. In fact, I don't think it was revolutionary at all, it was just good. it made some unusual choices, sure, but it's not Pulp Fiction. if you find them comparable, even if only in their impact, then I Think we're arguing different points here. I see nothing similar about them. one has no heart, one is all heart.

whatever got us off on the tangent of what is memorable about Juno aside, my point is simply that, in my opinion, the difference between Juno and other comparable films, is partly the performances, but mostly the writing. Cody may not have another one in her, but man, Juno is damn near perfect.

in all honesty, when you see Juno's parents and their uniqueness, you see those great exchanges in the school hallways with bleeker and juno, all that. how can you NOT chalk that up to good writing? otherwise it's just a byline in a review saying, "despite the best efforts of a great ensemble cast, the film just can't seem to etc. etc." instead, there was just universal praise. and the only haters were those that seemed unable to just watch a sweet funny film without finding something to take a huge shit on. indie music sucks! cutesy dialogue doesn't ring true! blah blah blah. it's easy to be cynical, but (as I said originally...to someone else by the bye), I feel sorry for anyone that just can't enjoy a movie like Juno.

mr. winston, I get what you mean. She wouldn't have gained media attention without her colorful past. But you know what? Nobody would know about her colorful past if she hadn't written a really good script. If she had written a shitty script, nobody would care if she'd been a stripper. Hell, I'm sure there are plenty of bad scripts floating around written by ex or current strippers. Your point is a weird one. If I'm reading it right, you think that people have been lead to believe she's a great writer because she's received a lot of attention. But based solely on the backlash against her, I'd say you're wrong. I don't think anyone has been lead to believe she's a great writer. If people believe that, it's because they watched the movie and thought she truly is a great writer. *Maybe* the media attention has swayed them to be more enthusiastic about her than they might have been otherwise, but I think you're overstating.

JUNO - I have no opinion of b/c I haven't seen it. You haters have hatingly created hate within me to hate JUNO and to hate its writer. And now I hate you.

I understand a lot of people like Cody for her unusual characters and wink-wink conversation. Mostly I do too, but if she could tone down her over the top banter so I can start to give a shit about the characters, she'd be a whole lot better, in my opinion.

Also I wonder what her user name on this site is/was, because you know she's had to have been on here before.

I just did it too.

You're kind of a dick, aren't you Winston?

I'd watch the amazing Toni Collete read the phone book in super slow motion for the rest of my life. I haven't seen one movie where this lady hadn't outshadowed her fellow actors. Also, she's fucking gorgeous and I fell in love with her in MURIEL'S WEDDING. Yes, the movie where she plays that weird fat girl who wants to get married. Oh and JAPANESE STORY was an outstandung one girl show. A class act. I'll watch anything she's on, I don't care if it's written by the Antichrist himself. I love you, Toni!!!