Diablo Cody, the comedic writer behind “Juno,” and “Transformers” siren Megan Fox have both been plucked by Fox Atomic for a comedic supernatural thriller by the name of “Jennifer’s Body”.

Megan Fox (left) and Diablo Cody.
Fox photo courtesy of IMDb; Cody photo courtesy of Scott Walker

“Jennifer’s Body,” by the way, is a reference to a song by the band Hole. Cody’s a fan of that band. On Tuesday, Cody wrote the following on her blog in reaction to the news:

This is going to be fun. I wrote this script last summer and have been (bleep) obsessed with getting it made ever since.

Incidentally, Megan Fox is hotter than the Earth’s core. Now – Hollywood’s tiresome profusion of “girlfriend roles” be (bleep) – she’s going to literally get out there and destroy some (bleep) boys.

Scripts are a nice way to exorcise personal demons, I’d say.

Novick, who grew up in the Highland Park area of Chicago, has lived in Los Angeles for the past decade.

Cody, who is also originally from Chicago, moved early in 2007 from Minnesota to Los Angeles with her husband, Jonny Hunt, who she met on the Internet, according to an e-mail I received from him on Tuesday.

As for “Jennifer’s Body,” Hollywood Reporter adds some detail about the project.

The story, which is similar in tone to “Heathers” and “Beetlejuice,” follows a cheerleader with a perfect life. She becomes the girl from hell when she gets possessed and begins killing boys in a small town.

Her best friend must then find a way to stop her.

Fox Atomic is aiming to make the project before a possible writer’s strike. Peter Rice, who oversees both Fox Searchlight and Fox Atomic, brought [in] the project.

“Juno” is being released on Dec. 14 by Fox Searchlight. The division has high hopes for the movie.

“[Cody’s] upcoming film from our sister division, her relationship with Rice and the synergy we have with his team have given Fox Atomic a unique opportunity,” said Fox Atomic president of production Debbie Liebling, who will oversee with Jeff Arkuss.

2:42 p.m. update: I’ve corrected it above and also wanted to point it out to you here.

Shortly after this report went live, I received an e-mail from Cody’s husband, Jonny Hunt, stating that they now live in Los Angeles rather than Minnesota.

Following the launch of the Writers Guild of America strike on Monday, “Juno” writer Diablo Cody went to work on Wednesday to fight for her work. She published the following photo on her blog.

Diablo Cody on strike on Nov. 7, 2007 in Los Angeles.
Photo source: Diablo Cody

The gang is out in force today. Even striking can be fun when someone’s blasting “Sir Duke” and donuts abound.

The best part of this afternoon was when Jeremy Piven drove off the lot and we all screamed “PIVS! PIVS!” at him like love-struck Beatlemaniacs.

Piven was raised in Evanston (just north of downtown Chicago) and Cody is originally from Chicago. She moved early in 2007 from Minnesota to Los Angeles with her husband (Jonny Hunt).

Cody will be in Chicago on a “Juno” press junket on Nov. 16 along with “Juno” star Ellen Page. I will be interviewing them then. Stay tuned for their perspective.

CHICAGO– Diablo Cody fittingly ushered in her Chicago “Juno” junket in classic Diablo Cody style: The night prior, she blogged with brevity where she’d be kicking back and when.

“Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Photo credit: WireImage.com

More than most, our interview especially paid no attention to the live recorder.

Instead, the laissez-faire time morphed into a blunt and beguiling conversation replete with cunning perspective, quick-witted commentary, unexpected bloody fingers and all things “adamant” (Cody’s word of the day) and “slutty” (Page’s).

Page came forthright out of the gates about her kissing scenes with “Superbad” comic phenom Michael Cera. She said: “Yeah, there were quite a few angles and takes, so we made out a lot.” Had there been need for more kissing takes, she said: “Hey, if he wants to dish it out, I’ll take it.”

She likened Cera’s charmingly geeky and blameless character in “Juno” to someone she’d date in reality. A lightbulb came on and Page volunteered: “It’s weird. He’s similar to a very good friend of mine.” Cody knew who and had met him.

Now Cody – who loathes the label of a “stripper turned blogger turned screenwriter” (more the latter than the first) – first spoke in our interview with modesty and irony. She gave props to her Juno persona with relative awe.

“The character is semi-autobiographical even though the story’s not. I feel a definite kinship with Juno. It’s an easy character for me to write. It felt very organic. I really based her on myself as a teenager, but Juno is way cooler than me. I didn’t always have the ready response,” Cody said absolutely with ready response.

Ellen Page.
Photo credit: IMDb

Without needing to be prompted, Page was eager to illuminate her love for her character: “She definitely hides behind that – behind her sarcastic wit. The whole point of being an actor is learning to just be the person you’re supposed to portray. I really admired Juno and it was really easy for me to connect my heart with her heart.

“Whenever you play someone who’s honest, whole and well written, you’re going to be able to connect with them. Juno has a special place in my heart. I was obsessed with her. I read the script a couple years ago and wasn’t just interested in pursuing it. It was as if this needs to happen.”

At the time, Page had just viewed “Juno” director Jason Reitman’s “Thank You For Smoking” and was about to convene for a general meeting. One week after the meeting had been arranged, the news surfaced that Reitman would be directing “Juno”. Page says on the twist of fate: “I was in cloud nine.”

Wanting the leading gig in “Juno” was just as clear for Page as it was for Reitman. As for Cody: “The instant her name came up from the beginning of the process, I knew she’d be amazing. She’s one of the best of her generation. When Jason came on board, he was adamant about her and I was 100 percent behind him.

“In terms of casting, I put my trust in Jason as I did with many aspects of the film,” Cody said. “He was adamant about the cast he wanted.”

Cody’s one not only to think quickly before she speaks but also to listen to her own words after she does. She then discerned about herself: “I’ve used the word ‘adamant’ twice. That’s the first and second time I’ve used that word in a really long time. It feels kinda good.”

Ellen Page (left) in “Juno”.
Photo credit: IMDb

With the film’s screenwriter at her side, Page was posed the question of whether she had to deliver any lines she despised.

“Honestly, no,” Page said. “There were some that felt more awkward and some I totally put my faith into Jason for it not to be ridiculous. Everything she wrote felt extremely organic to me. I didn’t speak the exact same way as Juno did when I was 16, but I did have my own specific language with friends.”

Back to Cody’s past and present, her essence today is drawn from all the good and the shameful of yesterday. While sometimes slapped with the negativities associated with a brief stint as a stripper, it’s perhaps surprising to learn she’s in fact more at odds with what has principally crafted her career.

“I tend to be somewhat ashamed of my blogging past,” Cody offered. “Blogging is vanity. It’s self-publishing. There’s no prestige in it. That’s not to say something has to be prestigious to have merit, but there’s something cheesy about being the first blogger turned screenwriter. I mind the stripper comparisons less.

“But [blogging is] where I come from. I owe my entire career to blogging. I was discovered because of the blog.”

She then interrupted herself due to a minor medical surprise: “I’m sorry. There’s blood all over my hand. I just cut myself really badly. It’s one of those small cuts that produces a ton of blood.” It’s that randomness – that quirkiness – that propels people’s growing interest in her. You never know what to expect with her.

Ellen Page and Michael Cera in “Juno”.
Photo credit: IMDb

So how did Chicago-native producer Mason Novick discover Cody’s blog? Was he searching for porn?

Page silently nodded her head. Before treated with the answer from Cody, Page’s own avant-garde personality launched her into tangential narrative in response to bloody digits.

“I have scars all over my fingers because I’m a fucking klutz,” Page acknowledged. “I [recently] moved into a [new] place [and] bought nice hiking shoes. I like to hike. I was wearing them in my place. I have a really old apartment and everything’s wood.

“I totally ripped my fingers to shreds with a brand-new knife I bought. It’s the only thing I spend money on. I have used furniture and whatever, but I like cooking and good knives are important. There was blood everywhere and it had gotten all over my shoes.”

Though she seemed apologetic for divulging the glimpse into her personal life, without interruption her mind fired back to: “Oh. Porn. Mason. Searching.” Cody now dished out our answer.

“Mason has never really told me the whole story because we have an extremely professional relationship,” Cody said on reflection while staring into her past. “I believe he said he was Googling ‘pussy’ and found The Pussy Ranch,” which is the title of her current blog.

Jennifer Garner (left), Jason Bateman and Ellen Page in “Juno”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Cody pressed on into the story of her manufacture: “Who hasn’t Googled ‘pussy’ or ‘cock’ during a dark, lonely moment? He was probably at work, though. That’s the funny part.

“He found my blog and started reading it – shockingly. There probably wasn’t a lot of visual material for him to work with, but there was a lot of cynical blabber about the sex industry. He for some reason thought I would make a good screenwriter. I absolutely love that man.”

Cody offers her love for Novick with purely professional undertones, of course, as she has been married to Jonny Hunt for the past three years. They relocated from Chicago to Minnesota and currently reside in Los Angeles. The couple appropriately met where Cody spends much of her personal and professional time: online.

While Cody continues developing a cult following as one of today’s most promising screenwriters, being tagged “the new Tarantino” is her most prized praise yet.

“Ah hah!,” she declared with elevated volume and unadulterated pride. The meek chic geek then returned: “I wish I were that talented. I wish I had one pixel of [Quentin] Tarantino’s talent. He’s an absolute hero of mine. That [praise is] Jason Reitman’s largesse. That’s very nice of him to say. [Tarantino is] a fucking icon.”

Page interjected with sarcasm: “Who’s Quentin Tarantino? Does he go out with Oprah?”

Fox Searchlight released a second “Juno” trailer on Thursday. While the international trailer takes a different direction than the first, it still features front and center the talent in Diablo Cody’s script.

I have uploaded the new trailer to YouTube and embedded it below.

The first trailer, which was released in Sept. 2007, can be seen below.

Part one of my interview with “Juno” star Ellen Page and Chicago-native screenwriter Diablo Cody can be read here. I posted on Sept. 14 that “Juno” would be one of the year’s best.

“Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Photo credit: WireImage.com

Ellen Page.
Photo credit: IMDb

Mann to Ambush Depp Outside the Biograph: Michael Mann and Johnny Depp have agreed to film “Public Enemies”. It’ll be a Chicago-based film about Depression-era gangsters set in 1933 to 1934.

Depp will play John Dillinger, according to Variety. The film is slated to start shooting in Chicago on March 10, 2008.

Michael Mann.
Photo credit: IMDb

Since 2006’s “Miami Vice,” Mann has been jumping on and off abandoned projects. “Public Enemies” sounds close in tone and period to an untitled Hollywood noir written by John Logan that stars Leonardo DiCaprio. That project fell through due to a budget climbing in excess of $100 million.

Mann also was attached to “Empire” – a media-mogul drama again written by Logan (which its proposed star, Will Smith, recently compared to “Richard III”) – along with a former Martin Scorsese project entitled “Frankie Machine”. “Frankie Machine” was due to star Robert De Niro and be rewritten by Alex Tse (“Watchmen”).

Mann was possibly to step in and direct “Edwin A. Salt,” which is a CIA thriller to star Tom Cruise.

Its original director, Terry George (“Reservation Road,” “Hotel Rwanda”), recently dropped out due to script problems. Despite the strike, Mann also wouldn’t commit without a rewrite to the screenplay by Kurt Wimmer (“Equilibrium,” “Ultraviolet”).

Depp and Mann previously almost collaborated on an adaptation of “Death of a Dissident” about the assassinated former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko.

Mann, who was born in Chicago, previously filmed “Thief” and “Manhunter” in the Windy City.

Then the NBR Woke Up: The National Board of Review (NBR) – annually the first film awards organization announcing its prizes – has named its best film of 2007: the Coen brothers’ “No Country For Old Men”. Other awards follow.

Javier Bardem in “No Country For Old Men”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Best actor: George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”

Best actress: Julie Christie, “Away From Her”

Best supporting actor: Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford”

Best supporting actress: Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”

Best adapted screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, “No Country For Old Men”

Best original screenplay:Diablo Cody, “Juno,” and Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”

Best director: Tim Burton, “Sweeney Todd”

In recent days, the NBR was rumored to have ousted influential member Annette Insdorf. She’s the head of the Columbia University film department and an acclaimed scholar on Francois Truffaut and Krzystof Kieslowski.

Documentarists to Get Their ‘Freak’ On: A who’s who of documentary filmmakers will each take on the non-fiction best-seller “Freakonomics,” according to Variety.

The film has enlisted Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”), Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (“Jesus Camp”), Alex Gibney (“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”), Laura Poitras (“My Country My Country”), Eugene Jarecki (“Why We Fight”) and Jehane Noujaim (“Control Room”) to each direct a documentary segment on chapters in the book.

The film will be produced by Chad Troutwin and Seth Gordon (“The King of Kong”). The controversial book, which is written by University of Chicago economistSteven Levitt and New York Times journalist Steven J. Dubner, is full of lateral thinking.

It uses pop culture and data to argue (among other things) that legalized abortion might lead to a lower crime rate or that beginning drug dealers on Chicago’s south side make less money than the starting counter wage at Burger King.

The authors also maintain a blog for further debate.

Spurlock has been the talk of movie blogs recently. Speculation spread that his next film, “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?,” actually contains an interview with bin Laden.

Morgan Spurlock.
Photo credit: Rebecca Sapp, WireImage.com

Most sites reported the film’s director of photography, Daniel Marracino, as saying: “We’ve definitely got the Holy Grail.” Still, the majority neglected to continue the quote: “Visually, this film is just going to be gorgeous.”

Secondly, there was a bidding war for the film at the Berlin Film Festival won by the Weinstein Company – last February. AICNalleges that the Weinstein Company spent $25 million on a 15-minute preview.

It took blogs from both The Guardian and the New York Times to debunk the rumor.

“Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” debuts at the Sundance Film Festival in Jan. 2008. “Freakonomics” plans to shoot in the beginning of January and hopes to be completed by the summer of 2008.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer
 HollywoodChicago.com

“Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Photo credit: ViewImages

While Cody has been painted with “the new Tarantino,” Page has been flattered by being likened to Meryl Streep and Audrey Hepburn.

“That seems outlandish. I don’t feel special,” Page said as if she’s not a flourishing Hollywood star. “I’m just doing what I love to do. That’s a crazy thing to think about. Having an opportunity to do this is an enormous gift. Getting all this attention just weirds me out.”

Cody laughed – and we won’t know why – except to say it was a “private joke” on the topic of Page’s modesty.

Page returned to her diffident direction: “It’s nice when people give you compliments, but it’s not always easy to take compliments. I have really awesome friends who are 10 times cooler than me doing really [amazing] things they don’t get attention for.”

Cody said maternally: “You should learn to take compliments, girlie, because you’re gonna be getting some.” Page pressed on: “I just run around for 30 days talking. Thanks, but what am I?”

Cody interrupted: “I’m sorry about this bloody rag. It’s out of control.” Cody was referencing her ever-bleeding finger in our interview.

“Juno” star Ellen Page as Kitty Pride in “X-Men: The Last Stand”.
Photo credit: EllenPage.net

“I would criticize nothing about her,” Cody retorted. “Ellen’s one of my heroes. She’s one of my favorite actors.”

Speaking of her motherly instincts, we shifted gears and discussed that vital topic in her personal and work life. Cody is a stepmom.

“That’s very important to me,” she said. “I honestly don’t think there’s any character more vilified in folklore or film than the stepmother. The reason I have a problem with it is not just because I am one but because a very, very large percentage of American children have one.”

As for the disapproving perception often associated with a stepmom in society today, Cody said: “I don’t see how that’s sending an uplifting or healthy message to anybody to tell them they have a villain in their family or to tell them they’re abnormal or tainted.

“If I could create a positive portrayal of a relationship between a stepmother and a stepdaughter – particularly at this fraught adolescent time [in the film] – maybe that will impact somebody. I always say evil stepmothers aren’t born. They’re made. There are bitchy stepmoms out there just like there are bitchy moms.”

She continued: “As a stepmother, you feel like ‘if society’s going to treat me like a villain, I’m going to fucking act like one’. And then the cycle continues. So let’s break the cycle!”

Speaking of breaking cycles, the timing of our interview was smack dab in the middle of the current writer’s strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

Diablo Cody on strike on Nov. 7, 2007 in Los Angeles.
Photo source: Diablo Cody’s “The Pussy Ranch” blog

“I’m very pampered as a writer. I get recognition. I’m well paid,” Cody said. “The strike benefits all of us. I’m not really supposed to be talking about it, but the new-media issue and residuals issue affect everybody. I do feel like a lot of writers get the short end of the stick in general, but not me.

“I wish every writer can have the treatment I’ve had so far in my career. I have no complaints [personally], but I have complaints on behalf of my peers.”

Beyond “Jennifer’s Body,” Cody is also in bed with Toni Collette (“The Sixth Sense”), Steven Spielberg and Showtime. She says Spielberg conceived the concept of a mom with multiple personalities and Cody pitched a story to him based on that plotline. Showtime bit and Cody says she’s looking forward to meeting with Collette.

“Slutty,” Page offered. Confused, this critic said: “Collette’s slutty?” Page purified: “No!” Cody’s media training stepped in: “That’s why you can’t just randomly say that in interviews. That’s just her all-purpose adjective. It just means ‘cool’.”

Cody has also penned a female “Superbad” screenplay she coins “Girlie Style”. As it’s a college sex comedy with female protagonists, by now the pattern has clearly emerged about her topical fixations on sex and women.

“Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Photo credit: Scott Walker

In reaction to being “lightly salted,” Page popped back in with a titter: “Nice. A touch of thyme! A pinch of dill!”

Cody again sported her grave hat: “I do feel like I have a responsibility to write strong roles for women because I’m seeing so many amazing actresses – or as I like to call them ‘actors’ – who are being squandered. I don’t like the term ‘actress’.”

Page concurred: “When people ask me what I’m doing and I say I’m an ‘actor,’ the old bald white man will say: ‘Oh ho ho ho. Don’t you mean actress?’”

Cody pursued: “The term ‘actress’ sounds like it’s from the silent film era. Like: ‘Actress Clara Beau!’ It’s cheesy. I say actor. In interviews like this, I find myself having to default to ‘actress’ because when I say ‘there are no good roles for actors,’ it gets misconstrued that I’m talking about men.”

Beyond talking about men, what about writing about them? Though time will be the ultimate judge, Cody asserted: “I’ll write about boys. I’m certainly not averse to it. I myself am kind of a dude, so the fact that I’m able to tap into any woman’s psyche is shocking.”

Ellen Page.
Photo credit: George Pimentel, WireImage

“You can’t just drop your blog because something [bad happens with it],” Cody stated. “Do you have any idea what kind of shit I’ve been through in cyberspace?”

She added: “How do I deal with that? I make a lot of money and laugh. Sorry. That’s a douche bag answer. I’ve been through a lot with it, but I don’t care because it’s four people in Minnesota who are bitter and ugly. They can eat a dick. They can collectively eat a dick.”

Page related: “It’s the same with what I do. I don’t even write anything personal about myself. I just act. Hardly many people even know who I am yet, but a few do. I just get automatically judged. People are just judgmental in general.”

“The Internet gives everybody a voice. I think that’s gross. Only the most articulate members of society should be allowed to voice their opinion,” Cody said sarcastically. But she concluded seriously: “There are a lot of illiterate trolls on the Internet who can just eat a dick.”

On Oct. 23, we learned that “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody– one of Hollywood’s most rising scribe stars – got plucked by Fox Atomic for a comedic supernatural thriller entitled “Jennifer’s Body”.

“Juno” and “Jennifer’s Body” screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Photo credit: ViewImages

Cody’s mix of razor-sharp wit, obscure pop-culture references, unique characters and ability to maneuver her way through potentially cliché situations has all of Hollywood calling her name.

I’m sure some people will see some comparisons to “Juno” especially in the characterizations and dialogue.

Anita “Needy” Lesnicki is kind of a quick-witted geek: the kind [who] uses the word “ostentatious” during … everyday conversation and dates a band geek named Chip.

Jennifer is the hotter, more popular member of the duo.

“Jennifer’s Body” is a very different [script] than “Juno”. For example, it is extremely gory.

One passage from Cody’s script describes a scene where blood and viscera [are] scattered everywhere with intestines strewn about “like party streamers”. One victim is described as looking like “lasagna with teeth”.

The main problem with “Jennifer’s Body” is that – as it begins to wind down – you realize you already know how it ends.

If I were to offer one suggestion to Fox Atomic, it would be this: begin the story at the beginning and not the ending.

It should also be noted that the screenplay is 115 pages long, which usually translates to an almost two-hour film. That might be a tad … too long for a genre film.

Read the full /Film script review here.

The color-pencil animated opening credit sequence for “Juno” has surfaced online thanks to its creator: Shadowplay Studio. I learned about this from a Dec. 27 post on /Film.

Ellen Page and Michael Cera for “Juno” on Sept. 8, 2007.
Photo credit: WireImage.com

Diablo Cody (left) and Ellen Page for “Juno” on Nov. 5, 2007.
Photo credit: WireImage.com

Jennifer Garner for “Juno” on Sept. 8, 2007.
Photo credit: WireImage.com

Ellen Page (left) in “Juno”.
Photo credit: IMDb

They were created by Shadowplay Studio, which is the same team who did the badass opening titles for “Thank You For Smoking”.

I met them back in 2000 when we both had short films playing the festival circuit. Their short (“This Guy is Falling”) was a really impressive half live-action/half animation piece they did in college.

When they did “Thank You For Smoking,” the titles were rendered on a series of computers in one of their mother’s living rooms. Now they got a fancy place in an art-deco building on Wilshire.

The “Juno” opening titles are out of control. I don’t want to give away too much, but the whole process was really labor intensive.

The Shadowplayers would have parties in which friends and family would help construct the whole thing. I can’t wait for you all to see it and then I can explain how it was done.

My interview with “Juno” star Ellen Page and “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody can be found here. The HollywoodChicago.com film review of “Juno” by Shane Hazen can be found here.

“Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Photo credit: WireImage.com

Ellen Page and Michael Cera in “Juno”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Jennifer Garner (left), Jason Bateman and Ellen Page in “Juno”.
Photo credit: IMDb

From left to right: J.K. Simmons, Ellen Page, Allison Janney and Jason Bateman for “Juno” on Nov. 5, 2007.
Photo credit: WireImage.com

CHICAGO– “No Country For Old Men,” “Juno,” “Once,” “Atonement,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Ratatouille,” “The Golden Compass,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “La Vie en Rose,” “Michael Clayton” and more headlined the 80th Academy Awards on Feb. 24, 2008.

In total, “No Country For Old Men” led the pack with four Oscars followed by a surprising three for “The Bourne Ultimatum” and two for “There Will Be Blood”.

A complete list of all 2008 Oscar winners at the 80th Academy Awards is found below. All image credits go to Oscar.com.

Best Picture:
Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for “No Country For Old Men”

Best Director:
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “No Country For Old Men”

Best Original Screenplay:
Diablo Cody for “Juno”
The HollywoodChicago.com interview with “Juno” writer Diablo Cody can be found here.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “No Country For Old Men”

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis for “There Will Be Blood”

Best Actress:
Marion Cotillard for “La Vie en Rose”

Best Supporting Actor:
Javier Bardem for “No Country For Old Men”

Best Supporting Actress:
Tilda Swinton for “Michael Clayton”
The HollywoodChicago.com interview with “Michael Clayton” director Tony Gilroy can be found here.

Best Art Direction:
Dante Ferretti (art direction) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decoration) for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

Best Cinematography:
Robert Elswit for “There Will Be Blood”

Best Film Editing:
Christopher Rouse for “The Bourne Ultimatum”

Best Original Song:
“Falling Slowly” from “Once” (music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
The HollywoodChicago.com interview with “Once” director John Carney and stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova can be found here.

Best Original Score:
Dario Marianelli for “Atonement”

Best Sound Mixing:
Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis for “The Bourne Ultimatum”

Best Sound Editing:
Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg for “The Bourne Ultimatum”

Best Visual Effects:
Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood for “The Golden Compass”

Best Costume Design:
Alexandra Byrne for “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”

Best Makeup:
Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald for “La Vie en Rose”

Best Animated Feature:
Brad Bird for “Ratatouille”

Best Animated Short Film:
Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman for “Peter & the Wolf”

Best Documentary Feature:
Alex Gibney and Eva Orner for “Taxi to the Dark Side”

Best Documentary Short Subject:
Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth for “Freeheld”

Best Live-Action Short Film:
Philippe Pollet-Villard for “Le Mozart des Pickpockets” (“The Mozart of Pickpockets”)

Best Foreign Language Film:
Stefan Ruzowitzky for “The Counterfeiters” (Austria)

Host Jon Stewart marked one of this year’s surprise moments when he offered for “Once” co-star Marketa Irglova – initially cut off by music – to return to the stage and deliver her acceptance speech. That speech has made its way to YouTube and can be seen below.

By ADAMFENDELMAN Editor-in-Chief HollywoodChicago.com adam@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– I’m flummoxed. I know “Smart People” was supposed to be comedic drama with a splash of romance. Instead, I have been misled. It’s not a comedy. It’s not a tragedy. It’s not even a tragicomedy.

“Smart People” is a blandly scripted “poor me” with an attempt at a plot and some glitzy Hollywood names thrown in for good box-office measure.

While I know this was no “Juno,” I couldn’t help cursing first-time writer Mark Poirier for not taking a much-needed page– or a full-fledged course of mentoring – from Oscar-winning“Juno” inker Diablo Cody.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Smart People” in our reviews section. View our full “Smart People” image gallery.

“Smart People” is also a product of another newbie: first-time director Noam Murro.

Since her “Juno” stardom in 2007 – and actually her big-screen break out even before that in 2005’s “Hard Candy” – 21-year-old Ellen Page has righteously warranted her way on Hollywood’s “A” list.

My draw to “Smart People” was Page and Page alone. While she’s always a professional who crafts the best she can from the material she’s handed, an actor ultimately is a slave to his or her script. “Smart People” offensively held Page back whereas “Juno” unleashed her.

Ellen Page in “Smart People”. Photo credit: IMDb

Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page in “Smart People”. Photo credit: IMDb

Read the full review…

Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO– Writer Diablo Cody, the Oscar-winning scribe of “Juno,” Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, and the Oscar-nominated actress Toni Collette have joined forces for the impressive and intriguing “United States of Tara,” airing this Sunday, January 18th on Showtime.

“United States of Tara” displays the fingerprints of three primary creative forces - the snappy dialogue of Cody, the unbelievable range of Collette, and Showtime’s creative impetus to bring us people living outside the norm but hiding in plain sight. Nancy Botwin on “Weeds,” Dexter Morgan on “Dexter,” Hannah/Belle on “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” and Tara Gregson on “United States of Tara” may look like you and me but they live distinctly abnormal lives.

Toni Collette as Tara in United States Of Tara.
Photo credit: Nigel Parry/Showtime

What makes Tara Gregson’s (Toni Collette) life so unique is that she isn’t alone inside her own body. As so many kids have said, “Mom’s just not herself today.” But in Tara’s life, it can be sadly true. Tara has dissociative identity disorder. There are three personalities that often come to the forefront and take over the lives of Tara and her family - “T,” a teenager fond of thongs and drugs, “Buck,” a beer-swilling Vietnam vet prone to violence, and “Alice,” a housewife straight out of a 1950s advertising campaign.

Toni Collette as Tara and John Corbett as Max in United States of Tara. Photo credit: Nigel Parry/Showtime

Like a lot of people with DID, Tara’s personalities take over in time of great stress or crisis and most of her family have gotten used to the “other people” living in their house. In the premiere episode, when Tara finds morning after pills in her daughter’s bag, mom understandably freaks out a bit and “T” takes over. Later, when force is called for, “Buck” makes an appearance. I’m not sure that people with real DID use their personalities in such a functional or practical way, but it definitely makes for interesting drama.

The family forced to deal with the “United States of Tara” include Max (John Corbett), her loving and supportive husband, Kate (Brie Larson), her rebellious daughter, and Marshall (Keir Gilchrist), her kind-hearted and intellectual son. Tara’s insecure sister Charmaine (Rosemarie Dewitt, recently seen in “Rachel Getting Married”) struggles to understand her sibling’s illness and great comedic actors like Tony Hale and Patton Oswalt guest-star.

At times, “United States of Tara” can feel too self-conscious and too in love with its own concept. The subtext of the show, a modern woman dealing with the stresses of modern life with multiple personalities, can be a little too clever for its own good as is Cody’s controversial ear for dialogue. Marshall, in particular, with his references to Thelonious Monk and George Cukor in just the first episode, feels almost like Cody’s reaction to criticisms that the teenage characters in “Juno” sounded more like twenty or thirtysomethings. “You thought that was adult dialogue coming out of a kid’s mouth?!? Check this out.”

Most importantly, Cody and her team of writers need to find something interesting underneath the personalities of its heroine to emphasize equally. “Weeds” works because it is about a lot more than just a pot-dealing mom in the ‘burbs. “United States of Tara” needs to find characters as interesting as the ones inside Tara Gregson, not just responses to them. The supporting cast is very good, particularly Dewitt and Corbett, but they are as yet underdeveloped and I worry they will always take a back seat to the chaos in the front.

Rosemarie DeWitt as Charmaine, Toni Collette as Tara, and Brie Larson as Kate in United States of Tara (Episode 5). Photo credit: Jordin Althaus/Showtime

As for that front, it’s something to behold. Collette has always had an underrated range, giving great performances in “Muriel’s Wedding,” “The Sixth Sense,” “About a Boy,” “Japanese Story,” “In Her Shoes,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” and HBO’s “Tsunami: The Aftermath”. She’s simply a fantastic actress and she does work here worthy of Emmy consideration.

On paper, Tara may sound like a gimmicky role, something anyone could knock out of the park, and that may be true, but what’s difficult about the over-the-top character is making her unusual situation feel genuine and Collette does that from scene one. She’s perfect and, easily, the main reason to watch the show. It’s a performance good enough to make every flaw of the show easier to overlook.

At least through its first four episodes, “United States of Tara” works and, while it may not be there quite yet, it is easy to see this show becoming one of the best on television with just a little tinkering. With an actress as talented as Toni Collette in your lead, greatness is always possible.

By BRIANTALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– On September 18th, Megan Fox, the star of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” will star in a comedy/horror hybrid called “Jennifer’s Body” and we’ve got two new pics and the official poster for this Twentieth Century Fox film.

The official synopsis from the studio reads: “When small-town high school hottie Jennifer (Megan Fox) is possessed by a hungry demon, guys who never stood a chance with her, take on new luster in the light of Jennifer’s insatiable appetite. From the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Juno.””

“Jennifer’s Body” was Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Chris Pratt, Juno Ruddell, and Kyle Gallner. It was written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama (“Girlfight,” “Aeon Flux”).

Megan Fox in Jennifer’s Body.
Photo credit: Doane Gregory

(L to R) Johnny Simmons and Megan Fox in Jennifer’s Body.
Photo credit: Doane Gregory

Jennifer’s Body.
Photo credit: Fox

By BRIANTALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Previous | Image 1 of 10 | Next

After being possessed by a hungry demon, small town high school student Jennifer (Megan Fox) transitions from being high school evil - gorgeous (and doesnt she know it), stuck up and ultra-attitudinal - to the real deal: evil/evil.

CHICAGO– This 10-image slideshow contains the official press images for “Jennifer’s Body,” starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, J.K. Simmons, and Johnny Simmons. The film was written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama and opens on September 18th, 2009. It is rated R.

Synopsis: “A sexy horror film with a wicked sense of humor, JENNIFER’S BODY is about small town high school student Jennifer (Megan Fox), who is possessed by a hungry demon. She transitions from being “high school evil” - gorgeous (and doesn’t she know it), stuck up and ultra-attitudinal - to the real deal: evil/evil. The glittering beauty becomes a pale and sickly creature jonesing for a meaty snack, and guys who never stood a chance with the heartless babe, take on new luster in the light of Jennifer’s insatiable appetite. Meanwhile, Jennifer’s lifelong best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried), long relegated to living in Jennifer’s shadow, must step-up to protect the town’s young men, including her nerdy boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons).”

You can click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through this slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All photos credited to James Dittiger (#1), Doane Gregory (#2-10) and Fox. All Rights Reserved.

Jennifers_Body_10: Nothing can water down the appetite of Jennifer (Megan Fox).

By BRIANTALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– For Oscar-winning “Juno” writer Diablo Cody, writing “Jennifer’s Body” with “Transformers” star Megan Fox and “Mamma Mia!” star Amanda Seyfried as the two lead women was as much of an out-of-body experience as Charlize Theron’s against-type role in 2003’s “Monster”.

The difference? Theron nailed it; Cody bloodied this bold opportunity.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

Since our Nov. 2007 interview with Cody for the Oscar-winning “Juno,” she’s as quick with her wit in person as she is with her pen for the screen.

While an early reading of the “Jennifer’s Body” script showed promise, once it hit the screen Cody’s razor-sharp wit was blunted against the mismatched backdrop of two female leads who couldn’t sell the script and the overarching horror tone that the talented Cody hasn’t yet mastered.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Jennifer’s Body” in our reviews section.

Like “Juno,” you still hear Cody’s obscure and uniquely twisted pop-culture references. Like “Juno,” you once again travel with Cody as she deftly maneuvers the cliché without being so.

Like “Juno,” Cody has found another way to inject the importance of relationships into strong female roles. But “Jennifer’s Body” more than disappoints – and, in fact, offends considering the prodigy who wrote it – on three primal levels.

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “Jennifer’s Body” review.

The insatiable appetite of Jennifer (Megan Fox) takes her on the prowl for a meaty snack in “Jennifer’s Body”.
Photo credit: Doane Gregory, 20th Century Fox

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “Jennifer’s Body” review.

LOSANGELES– “Sweet Valley High” filtered through Diablo Cody? That is exactly what Universal is doubling down on, in negotiations to pick up the rights to the long-running book series, with Cody (“Juno,” “Jennifer’s Body”) attached to adapt.

Diablo Cody and ‘Sweet Valley High’ Photo credit: Diablo-Cody.com, Culturecat.net

Cody’s formative years were informed by the books, which centered on two teenage girls, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, who lived in the fictional town of Sweet Valley, California. Jessica was the more conniving and materialistic of the sisters, and usually needed help from the more practical Elizabeth when her schemes went awry.

The series, created by Francine Pascal, made its debut in 1983, publishing 150-plus books with more than 60 million copies in print. The last one came out in January 2003.

Reuters was the source for the story.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– When Quentin Tarantino sets out to write a World War II thriller set in Nazi-occupied France, he can’t help turning it into a hip commentary on war films. Similarly, when Diablo Cody sets out to write a straightforward horror picture about teenage angst, she can’t help turning it into a snarky farce, featuring characters who wisecrack to the bloody end.

Neither screenwriter seems capable of composing a line of dialogue that isn’t colored by their pop culture savviness and distinctive verbal style. Like Tarantino, Cody is one of the few writers working in Hollywood who is the star of her own films. And if “Juno” was Cody’s “Pulp Fiction,” then “Jennifer’s Body” is her “Death Proof.” Everything that was fresh and charming about her previous work has suddenly become stale and irritating. It highlights just how invaluable the contributions of director Jason Reitman and actress Ellen Page were to the overall success of “Juno.” Cody certainly wouldn’t have won an Oscar without them.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

Reitman sought to find the heart within the self-conscious cleverness of Cody’s script, and transformed it into a sentimental crowd-pleaser. Page utilized the stylish wordplay as a shield for her precocious character to use against the world, in order to mask her inner vulnerabilities (it was also her idea to use “The Moldy Peach’s quirky/cuddly tune “Anyone Else But You” as the film’s anthem). “Jennifer’s Body” is closer in spirit to Cody’s original vision of “Juno,” with its jet-black R-rated humor and a bombastic soundtrack featuring bands like Panic at the Disco and Dashboard Confessional (Kimya Dawson is conspicuously absent). It’s a horror-comedy in the tradition of “Carrie,” and like most films in that tradition, it falls far short of Brian De Palma’s satirical brilliance.

Megan Fox kills boys and cracks wise in Karyn Kusama’s dark satire Jennifer’s Body.
Photo credit: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Megan Fox toys with her eye candy persona as Jennifer, the reigning beeyotch of her high school who’s eagerly followed by her lifelong friend subtly named Needy, played by the voluptuous Amanda Seyfried (who hides behind thick glasses and frizzy hair in an unsuccessful attempt to pass herself off as plain). The film’s opening line, “Hell is a teenage girl,” could’ve easily been “Carrie”’s tagline, foreshadowing Jennifer’s eventual transformation into a demon that feasts on the flesh of boys. But Cody’s script cops out by making Jennifer’s bloodthirsty powers not the inner result of teenage cruelty, but the silly plot-driven result of a botched ritual sacrifice by an evil Emo band. The premise may have the potential to satirize the predatory nature of teenage girls, but director Karyn Kusama hammers the sociological metaphors into the ground.

Jennifer’s Body was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 29th, 2009. Photo credit: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Devoid of its bouncy rhythm, Cody’s dialogue lands with an embarrassing thud, as quips like, “Nice hardware, Ace,” and “Move on dot org, Needy!” elicit little more than tired groans. Watching “Jennifer’s Body” is a depressingly somber experience, since it illustrates how one of the industry’s brightest and most original voices can so quickly fall into the trap of mediocrity. Cody is an exceptionally intelligent talent, and she will hopefully triumph again. In the meantime, any moviegoer seeking a superior feminist horror-comedy should look no further than “Teeth,” Mitchell Lichtenstein’s spectacularly ballsy satire in which no man’s “pork sword” is safe.

“Jennifer’s Body” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio), accompanied by English, Spanish, French and Portuguese audio tracks, and comes with a digital copy of the film. The most fascinating extra is an unrated version that further amplifies the tonal uncertainty of the filmmakers (Kusama provides illuminating commentary). Cody joins the director for an equally excellent audio commentary for the theatrical cut, in which they discuss the film’s sexual and feminist undertones (Cody calls herself “a huge proponent of teenage sex”). The disc also includes deleted scenes, video diaries, a making-of-featurette, a gag reel consisting of actors stumbling over undeliverable dialogue, and a fitfully entertaining interview with Cody herself, who says she’s looking for the female Holden Caulfield. Better luck next time.

By MATTFAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– I personally think the show is slightly inferior to its hour-partner “Nurse Jackie,” but Toni Collette does such spectacular work on “United States of Tara” that her performance alone demands you tune in. Like Edie Falco on “NJ,” the incredibly talented Collette takes a challenging role that could have turned into caricature in the hands of a lesser actress and makes it genuine.

Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

The first season of “United States of Tara” ended with our lead saying, “You know, it could get worse before it gets better.” And yet the second season opens optimistically. It has been three months since her alters surfaced and the Gregson family - Tara (Toni Collette), pop Max (John Corbett), and kids Kate (Brie Larson) and Marshall (Keir Gilchrist) - are burning the clothes she no longer needs. Of course, a neighborhood controversy changes everything.

Keir Gilchrist as Marshall, Brie Larson as Kate, John Corbett as Max, and Toni Collette as Tara
Photo credit: Showtime

In case you’re completely unfamiliar with Showtime’s award-winning show, Tara Gregson doesn’t live alone inside her own body. She brings new meaning to “Mom’s just not herself today” as she has Dissociative Identity Disorder. She has three “alters” - “T,” a teenager fond of thongs and drugs, “Buck,” a beer-swilling Vietnam vet prone to violence, and “Alice,” a housewife straight out of a 1950s advertising campaign - and will develop a fourth before the halfway point of this sophomore season.

John Corbett as Max, Brie Larson as Kate, Rosemarie DeWitt as Charmaine, Toni Collette as Tara, and Keir Gilchrist as Marshall Photo credit: Courtesy of Showtime Networks

Tara’s alternate personalities take over in times of great stress, just as her family needs her the most. I still think that Cody and the writers of “United States of Tara” are playing a bit loose with the actuality of DID in that I’m not sure that people with this disorder use them in such a functional or practical way, but it certainly makes for good drama.

The subtext of “United States of Tara” is clear - the modern mother practically needs multiple personalities to deal with the increasingly crazy world, especially when they’re raising teenagers. As for the kids, Marshall has become a bit less self-aware of a character (he too often sounded like a Juno variation at the beginning…the smartest kid in the room)) and starts season two as the most confidently developed character compared to season one as he becomes involved with gay rights at his school. Sadly, Tara’s other child is given a “job” subplot that doesn’t really work.

It’s not that the supporting cast of “United States of Tara” is bad - I personally thought that Rosemarie Dewitt, who plays Tara’s sister, deserved an Oscar nod for “Rachel Getting Married” and John Corbett grounds the piece a bit with his typical charm - but the dilemma of poor Tara along with the self-aware dialogue of Diablo Cody makes for a program that often feels more show-y than I wish it would.

The best moments on “United States of Tara” are not the most extreme examples of its lead’s disorder but the human ones about a family dealing with it and I think it’s great that the first episode of the season allows Collette to really play Tara before the season gets back into her DID. It is a compliment to what Collette has accomplished that I’m much more interested in the “real” Tara than her extreme, scene-stealing “alters”.

Ultimately, even with excellent upcoming guest stars like Viola Davis and Patton Oswalt, the show is still all about Collette. She’s been an underrated actress for years but “United States of Tara” has finally given her the credit she deserves, winning her the Golden Globe and the Emmy for her first season.

As it appears that this season could be largely about getting to the root of the trauma that created Tara’s DID in the first place, it will likely give Collette some nice dramatic work and earn her more awards. She takes what could have been a gimmicky role and does such a good job with it that it makes all other flaws of the program fade away. It’s one of the best performances on television, even if the show it’s on doesn’t always live up to it.

By BRIANTALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– It’s difficult to think of a role better suited for the chameleon-like abilities of Toni Collette than Tara Gregson, a devoted wife and mother struggling with dissociative identity disorder. Every episode holds an element of surprise, since viewers are never quite sure which of Tara’s “alters” will emerge next. Will it be the perky ’50s housewife, the flirtatious teenager or the testosterone-oozing Vietnam vet?

Yet in order for the audience to buy any of these personas, they must believe in the character of Tara herself, and that’s where Collette excels the most. Though the actress has played a variety of harried yet loving mothers in everything from “The Sixth Sense” to “About a Boy,” Tara is unlike anyone Collette has tackled before. The character is the bold brainchild of Diablo Cody, a screenwriter who loves telling stories about female protagonists with issues that are worth putting up with. Tara may be a handful, but she deserves (and acquires) every ounce of her long-suffering family’s support.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

There are obvious similarities between Tara and Juno, the heroine of Cody’s Oscar-winning screenplay, which has garnered equal amounts of acclaim and criticism. Juno utilized her self-consciously clever dialogue as a shield to protect her multiple vulnerabilities, and Ellen Page made practically every line ring true. That certainly wasn’t the case in Cody’s disastrous sophomore effort, “Jennifer’s Body,” where the writer’s instantly recognizable style dove straight into the abyss of self parody. “Tara” often brings out the best in Cody, enabling her to work with other writers who assist in making her dialogue sound more varied and naturalistic. Behind Cody’s sharp-tongued snark is an endearing humanity and fascination with the quirks that most of us would rather hide. While topics such as teenage pregnancy and multiple personality disorder are often dramatized as dire tragedies, Cody mines them for their humor and poignancy, while opting to tell stories about survivors rather than self-pitying victims. Though Cody’s world is obviously a heightened version of reality, it certainly seems like a happier place to live.

Toni Collette stars in United States of Tara: The Second Season.
Photo credit: Showtime Entertainment

The second season starts with Tara at home and “dissociative free” when her next door neighbor offs himself, an event that throws her entire dysfunctional family into disarray. With his wife healthier than ever, Max (the terminally laid-back John Corbett) decides to focus his efforts on a new project by buying and flipping the deceased man’s house, which proves to hold a great deal of mystery and intrigue within its shadows. The house begins to unlock repressed memories within Tara’s psyche that bring about two new personalities. Yet Tara is far from the only one that’s searching for her identity.

Narcissistic sis Charmaine (the wonderful Rosemarie DeWitt) feels her new engagement ring has made her life complete, until she discovers that her unborn baby’s father is not the man she suspected. Tara’s headstrong daughter Kate (Brie Larson) literally finds herself a new identity by becoming the muse of an underground artist (Viola Davis), an extroverted character that represents Tara’s “shadow self,” and functions as her spiritual alter. My favorite subplot of this season follows Tara’s son Marshall (Keir Gilchrist), who’s still in the process of discovering his sexual identity. He considers himself gay, but doesn’t fit in with the aggressively flamboyant heads of the GLBT group at his school, inspiring him to give heterosexual love a shot. This intriguingly parallels Tara’s own identity crisis when her male alter Buck conducts an affair with a waitress (Joey Lauren Adams) that Max appeared to be flirting with. One of the most provocative aspects of the show is how Tara’s alters seem to emerge out of her own needs and insecurities, allowing her to do and say things that she wouldn’t be able to accomplish in her own skin. Collette is mesmerizing throughout, allowing subtle nuances in Tara’s face to reflect or foreshadow the personalities hiding within.

United States of Tara: The Second Season was released on DVD on Dec. 28, 2010. Photo credit: Showtime Entertainment

“United States of Tara: The Second Season” is presented in its 16:9 aspect ratio, accompanied by English and Spanish audio tracks. While the previous season’s DVD release offered a variety of special features, including audio commentaries and bonus episodes of other Showtime programs, the new season’s 2-disc set accompanies its twelve episodes with very few extras. There are 34 minutes of cast interviews that primarily consist of teases about the second season that hold very little insight. Only Cody and Davis manage to provide some enlightening morsels, particularly concerning the show’s various metaphors for “shadow psyches.”

Cody says it was always her desire to give Tara a family that was accepting of her disease, even if it was a decided departure from the norm. She also notes that it was her intention to make Tara’s formidable new alter, Shoshanna, a stereotypical women’s therapist, since all of Tara’s alters are essentially archetypes. Davis says that she got a kick out of playing a wholehearted eccentric, since she’s so often been cast as the voice of reason (most memorably in “Doubt”). Corbett admits that there were efforts made to make his character more proactive, since his passivity during the first season made his character appear more deranged than Tara (and perhaps he is). Collette discusses the added challenge of performing in scenes where Tara is interacting with her own co-conscience. Despite its inherently heightened style, Collette believes that the show offers a “true depiction of how people would live with such a condition.” Though I may doubt the show’s accuracy, there’s no doubt how highly I’m anticipating the March premiere of season 3.

By MATTFAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– I’ve said for two seasons now that Showtime’s “United States of Tara” isn’t as good as it should be, partially because the writing and parts of the ensemble don’t live up to the Emmy-winning work by its stunningly talented star, Toni Collette, but I might have been wrong. The start of season three, debuting tonight, Mar. 28th, 2011 on Showtime, hints at a broader program with a deeper ensemble, but I’m not sure any more that this is a good thing.

Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

The supporting cast of the current season of “United States of Tara” features a few incredibly talented actors including Rosemarie Dewitt, Keir Gilchrist, Patton Oswalt, and the new addition of the great Eddie Izzard. And yet I can honestly say that I still lose a bit of interest every time the plot turns away from its multi-talented, multi-personality lead. Tara Gregson, a woman with multiple personalities, has become such an interesting character and the performance by Collette has become so compelling that attempts to expand the series beyond her fail to match her work.

Toni Collette on United States of Tara
Photo credit: Showtime

At the beginning of season three of “United States of Tara,” the Gregson family seems pretty much in order. The kids, Kate (Brie Larson) and Marshall (Keir Gilchrist), are still trying to find their identities but that’s normal at their age and Max (John Corbett) is dealing with the struggling economy while Tara’s sister Charmaine (Rosemarie Dewitt) awaits the impending arrival of her first child. It almost seems like everyone but Tara has something to worry about. That is until she decides to finish something she never got a chance to and goes back to school.

Eddie Izzard on United States of Tara Photo credit: Courtesy of Showtime Networks

It’s there that Tara encounters an abrasive teacher played by the great Eddie Izzard. You see, Tara didn’t finish school because she tried to kill herself when her multiple personalities took over due to the stress. Naturally, Max is worried this could happen again, and probably would be even more concerned if he knew that Tara’s teacher doesn’t even believe in her disease, thinking that Dissociative Identity Disorder is an over-used diagnosis. Will Tara struggle to graduate yet again?

A surprising amount of the first few episodes of the new season of “United States of Tara” allows actors and actresses other than Collette to shine. We spend a lot of time with Neil (the great Patton Oswalt) and the needy Charmaine and Izzard steals many of his scenes, but the best moments in the series are still almost entirely due to Toni Collette’s performance. She’s so good that any attempt to steal her spotlight just doesn’t work. And I’m not sure it should. I almost feel like it would be better to just give in and recognize that this is Tara’s show in the same way that “Dexter” and “The Sopranos” belong to the leads who share a name with the series.

I also feel like the writing on “United States of Tara” often feels like it’s trying too hard to be quirky and different, particularly in minor roles like Michael Hitchcock’s overdone character and most of the activity of Brie Larson’s undefined daughter. The writing bounces back and forth between the believable and the “quirk for the sake of quirk” that sinks a show like “Tara.” Collette takes what could have been a gimmicky role and does such a good job with it that it makes all other flaws of the program fade away. It’s one of the best performances on television, even if the show it’s on doesn’t always live up to it. Collette (and, to be fair, Gilchrist, who’s quite good) bring the comedy back to Earth every time it threatens to float off completely into the kind of eccentricity you only see on television, but it still threatens too often to be considered a great show.

Having said that, I have to say that I’m more interested to see how the rest of this season plays out than I was for the first two. Perhaps it’s because of my adoration for the underrated Izzard or the fact that I’m always curious when a show shakes up its formula a bit. I’m just not sure yet if the suggestion to shake up “United States of Tara” was right in the first place.

By BRIANTALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– ABC reaches a new low with “Suburgatory,” one of the least funny comedies of the fall TV season. It’s only appropriate that the pilot premieres after ABC’s other torturous suburban sitcom, “The Middle,” since neither show seems to have been conceived by a writer willing to step foot outside of the L.A. city limits. Yet while “The Middle” was admittedly likable during its first season, “Suburgatory” tanks in its opening moments.

The instant heroine Tessa (Jane Levy) starts spouting streams of hyper-articulate snark, it becomes quickly apparent that writer/creator Emily Kapnek (“Parks and Recreation”) is straining to imitate the stylized dialogue of “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody. Though many viewers have criticized “Juno”’s overwritten banter for sounding self-consciously artificial, it had the immense benefits of Cody’s vibrant wit and a first-rate cast willing to do it justice.

Television Rating: 1.5/5.0

Yet Cody also had a distinctive Midwestern voice and genuine empathy for her small town characters. The smugly condescending caricatures populating “Suburgatory” could’ve only been dreamed up by a writer who’s seen too many episodes of “Desperate Housewives.” In fact, Kapnek has cited “Housewives” as her chief inspiration, and it’s glaringly obvious. Her pastel-colored suburb appears to be comprised entirely of sex hungry housewives whose heads audibly whip in the direction of the new guy on the block. In this case, it’s George (Jeremy Sisto), a single father who’s moved his daughter Tessa from New York to the suburbs. Why, you may ask? Because George found a box of condoms in his daughter’s drawer and freaked out. This inspires Tessa to utter her first of many unspeakably wince-inducing lines, as she muses on the irony that “a box full of rubbers landed me in a town full of plastic.” Yes, George’s reasoning is ridiculous, but Tessa is a scowl-faced grouch who has a contrived zinger for every occasion. George is required to smile through the endless stream of criticisms like the castrated male trope that Cody is often blasted for glorifying (a prime example would be John Corbett in the early episodes of “The United States of Tara”).

Alan Tudyk, Allie Grant, Jeremy Sisto, Jane Levy, Carly Chaikin and Cheryl Hines star in ABC’s Suburgatory.
Photo credit: ABC

Levy looks quite a bit like Emma Stone, and her sardonic timing could prove to be engaging with a decent script. It’s mind-boggling to fathom what attracted Levy, Sisto or anyone else to this material. The appearance of Cheryl Hines as a twangy fashion-obsessed mother initially brightens the dreariness until one starts considering the criminal waste of her talent. With her presence sorely missed on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Hines has exchanged her inspired ad-libs for embarrassing lines such as, “I acted like a real bizznitch.” Oddly enough, Larry David’s new “Curb” girlfriend, Ana Gasteyer, is also featured here as yet another insufferable Stepford Wife. Now all the show needs is a role for Susie Essman so she can tell everyone in the neighborhood to go to hell. Yet even Essman’s comic genius wouldn’t be able to keep me pinned down for another half-hour of this dreck. 

Carly Chaikin and Jane Levy star in ABC’s Suburgatory. Photo credit: ABC

While everyone in the “Suburgatory” pilot fails to elicit a single laugh, the characters in “The Middle” were genuinely funny during season one. Unfortunately, they quickly became one note in subsequent episodes, proving that the creators had no idea how to develop the characters beyond their initial sketch. Now the annoyance level has reached such a shrill level that it’s clear the only logical happy ending would be for the parents to divorce and put their brats up for adoption. Yet each episode ends with an abrupt moral that puts a sickly glow on the preceding misery, while attempting to convince viewers that life is really swell in “the middle,” despite its infinite amount of drawbacks. Viewers most likely to buy this message have undoubtedly experienced the Midwest solely through a plane window during a flight from L.A. to New York. 


“We feel your pain” is the primary sentiment feigned by “The Middle,” which is nearly as bad as the all-out hostility expressed in “Suburgatory.” After twenty minutes of rampant condescension, the show tacks on a couple gooey moments that are every bit as convincing as the phony feel-good messages at the end of “Family Guy.” Tessa comes to the realization that although the suburbs are the worst place on planet Earth to live, she might still get some sweet underwear out of the deal. It won’t be long before viewers start feeling an intense desire to purge-atory this mess from their collective minds as soon as humanly possible.

By MATTFAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com