From Lucas Hazlett , New York, NY:
Perhaps the time for this has long past, as “Juno“-backlash has now become as vogue as the praise given to it months earlier, but I just recently came upon your 1972 review for “A Clockwork Orange,” another movie that was ripe with much-maligned hipsters and their mouthfuls of cryptolect, and I found it interesting what you said about it:
“I don’t know. But they’ve really hyped “A Clockwork Orange” for more than it’s worth, and a lot of people will go if only out of curiosity. Too bad …. “A Clockwork Orange” commits another, perhaps even more unforgivable, artistic sin. It is just plain talky and boring. You know there’s something wrong with a movie when the last third feels like the last half.”
In my opinion, you could replace “A Clockwork Orange” with “Juno” in that statement and the sentiment would more or less remain true, which is interesting considering 35-years later you considered Juno the best movie of the year. With that said, as a wannabe writer myself, I congratulate Diablo Cody on her Oscar win. Hype or not, she wrote and sold a movie.