Anyone here agree that Thank You For Smoking was better than Juno?
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fentress — 18 years ago(March 31, 2008 05:17 PM)
I agree completely. I liked Juno very much, but I felt that in some respects it gave shallow treatment to the certain feelings a person might have upon finding oneself accidentally pregnant.
The rapid-fire witty verbal exchange style of dialogue found in both movies is great for a savage satirical piece like TYFS. But it can cause a small personal movie like Juno to sometimes feel staged and lacking in authenticity, because real people don't sound that snappy every time they speak. Just 16d0occasionally, mind you; I still like the dialogue in Juno for the most part. But TYFS had a large-than-life sort of quality to it, so bigger than life dialogue worked.
Bottom line: I liked them both, but I give Thank You For Smoking a slight edge. -
jzappa — 18 years ago(April 07, 2008 06:19 PM)
That's a remarkable point about the dialogue, Fentress. I often find it risky to jut savvy dialogue because a lot of the time, it can distance you from the reality of the film. David Mamet's dialogue works because even in his most serious works, there's an expressionistic feel to them. In the scene where Juno meets the prospective parents for her child, her lines don't come off as funny or witty at all. They make her seem terribly estranged from social interaction.
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jzappa — 18 years ago(April 08, 2008 08:41 AM)
Ever since I saw it, I have been wondering why it didn't hit me as hard as everyone else, or even hit me hard at all. And now, I think it's been confirmed. It doesn't take itself seriously enough for what it tries to say, comedy or not. It's such an insecure film that it contrives its dialogue and the bombast of certain characters including Juno herself.
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fentress — 18 years ago(April 08, 2008 10:54 AM)
I think you make a good point. I appreciated how she was changed her mind about her initial idea of an abortion and seemed genuinely concerned that the child would get good adoptive parents. But it seemed to me that if one were unexpectedly pregnant (or the closest I could get, being male, would be to father an unplanned pregnancy) and were giving it up for adoption, one would be riddled with questions of there being a child out there somewhere in the world that is biologically yours but you're not caring for it. That's not to say giving it up for adoption wouldn't be a good course of action, but you would still be troubled at least for a while wondering about the ultimate fate of your child. It bothered me that Juno seemed so untroubled in this way. I didn't quite buy how easy it was for her. Though it didn't ruin the movie for me, I thought that was a major flaw.
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Frosty_86 — 17 years ago(April 16, 2008 04:25 PM)
I love both of the movies but I enjoyed THANK YOU FOR SMOKING a little more with JUNO. I think that THANK YOU FOR SMOKING has different type of humor that JUNO did and I think that people as a whole could get more of the jokes in JUNO and I think thats why it got more appreciation. JUNO was a change for critics and people because it was not a poltical movie and it wasnt dark it was a feel good movie and in 2007 there kinda seemed like there was a lack of the feel gooders but I still personally liked SMOKING better
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redfirebird2008 — 17 years ago(June 22, 2008 01:25 AM)
I like them both, but Thank You For Smoking was funnier to me and I do agree with the point brought up about how Juno doesn't even seem concerned at all about the idea of giving a child up for adoption. That's probably not how it goes down for 99% of the women/girls out there who give their babies up for adoption, so in this respect it's a fairly unrealistic portrayal of the situation.
Eckhart and Page are both great in their roles for these two movies though. That's the thing that stands out most to me about both movies. And I can't wait for Eckhart's performance in The Dark Knight. -
Cal Hawks — 17 years ago(June 22, 2008 11:03 PM)
It's really close But yeah, I think Thank you for Smoking is a little better I also think Eckhart is one of the most underestimated actors around, though that is slowly changing..
I will say this though I loved both movies a lot, and will be looking forward to anything young Master Reitman releases.