Honest to Blog: Why All The Juno Bashing?

Ever since the little movie that could got a truckload of Oscar nominations, there has been a growing rumbling about the validity of said noms. It seems that some people don't like the film and like the idea of Juno making off with a couple of stupid statues even less.

What gives?

I get that not everyone loves this movie. That's cool. We don't all have to like the same things. In fact, that has been my review of this flick since the day after I saw it:
I loved it! It's an instant classic in my books, but I can see it being a totally polarizing movie. Some people will absolutely hate it and I get that. Kinda like some people hate Little Miss Sunshine.

My beef isn't with those who dislike this little picture about a smart-mouthed sixteen year old who gets knocked up by her track-nerd pseudo-boyfriend. Actually, I do have a small beef with them because they show incredibly poor taste in films, but that's not the beef I have in the context of this blog. We can discuss that beef at another time.

What does chap my ass is the groundswell of Juno-bashing that has taken place since the Oscar nominations were announced. I just don't get it.

For once the Academy is passing out nominations to a film that has garnered widespread success amongst a demographic that, let's be honest, probably didn't pay the price of admission to anything that received a nomination last year. Or the year before. Or whenever they figured out how to download and burn movies of the Internet, so, sometime around 1999.

I'm not an idiot (disputable, I know) and don't expect - nor do I want - the Academy to hand out nominations to the Top Box Office films of the year, because no one wants to see Jack standing behind a podium handing out Best Picture to one of Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Spiderman 3, Shrek the Third or Transformers.

But acknowledging excellence in a flick that more than just the Academy, film critics and arm-chair film critics saw isn't a bad thing, especially when the acknowledgments are very much deserved. Maybe Jason Reitman didn't deserve a nod for Best Director, but you can't really argue with the remaining three nominations. Can you?

Ellen Page acted her ass off in this flick. I watch a lot of movies and I can't think of another lead female performance that deserves a nomination more so than the five women who'll be all dolled up next Sunday night.

The Best Original Screenplay nod for Diablo Cody is a no-brainer isn't it? I mean, you have to admit that this is a wholly original and unique idea, unlike the three hundred retread movies that get made every year, not including flat-out remakes of old, forgotten films.

And finally, the Best Picture nomination. Of the three aside from JR's directing nod, this is the one that I can see people debating the most. But it's also the one I would defend to the death. Just like Little Miss Sunshine before it, you can dislike the movie all you want, but there is no denying that this was one of the five best films of the year. Tell me what should replace it if you don't think it belongs?

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Oscar Picks coming next Saturday...