She tries really hard, actually!

It is a great time to be Diablo Cody. In case you haven't heard the amazing story behind 2007 Hollywood's It Girl, here goes. Cody was a stripper in Minnesota. She started a blog entitled the pussy ranch. Her blog was widely read and she parlayed in into a book deal about her stripping exploits. That book led a producer to encourage her to write a screenplay. That screenplay turned out to be Juno, the hilarious and touching story of a 16 year old pregnant teen. This fall the little pregnancy movie that could, written by the stripper has had Tinsel Town all a buzz!

However, not everyone has been on the Hamburger phone train this fall. Most people are probably jealous of her rags to riches story. But come on people, we shouldn't be so hard on her because she gives us bloggers and Hollywood wannabes hope.

If there is one aspect of Juno that's been criticized its been it's hipper than hip google-era dialogue. Many people aren't buying the legitimacy of the language coming from a 16 year old. Looking over the quotes page on IMDB and upon viewing the film twice, I am still not buying lines like "That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet" and "Hi, I'm calling to procure a hasty abortion..." Cody's script attempts to have such a distinct voice that it fails to ever convince me that many of the characters exist in any semblance of the real world. In the first two scenes of the film it seems as though she is attempting to one up each sentence she writes on the page. It is actually kind of insufferable. It isn't until a couple scenes in that the humor feels much more organic and therefore authentic. The third act is when her screenplay really takes off when her characters speak more like humans. I don't want to come across as disliking Cody's script. There are some great lines, huge laughs, and some superb comedic moments. However, I still maintain that I just don't buy some of the far too precious one liners.

Criticisms aside Diablo Cody will win an Oscar and for many reasons I do believe she should. She dares to be different and her personal story is pretty spectacular. However, she could suffer backlash because she is taking advantage of every aspect of her new found fame and this includes being the new Entertainment Weekly correspondent. Part of me thinks that Cody doesn't have to try very hard to fit into the Hollywood world and that she allows her talent to speak for itself. The other part of me thinks she is trying oh so hard to capitalize on everything she can until people say "Diablo who?" The nice person in me wants to think the former, but the realist in me suspects the latter.

My thoughts on the language in Juno and Cody as a the newest Hollywood specimen were summed up beautifully by a writer in Variety who said Juno sounds less like a 16 year old and more like a 30 year old trying to make a name for herself in Hollywood. And that's one doodle that can't be un-did.