I wanted to find a group of teens to talk to about the Oscars, but I needed a group in which it was likely that at least some of them had actually seen some of the nominated films. So I turned to the high school youth group at First Unitarian Universalist Church in Oklahoma City where Terry, the religious education director, and Mike and Anne, the high school youth advisors, very kindly allowed me to spend a few minutes with their teens at their Wednesday night youth group.

This is a fun, rowdy group of kids, and as I'd suspected, almost all of them had seen at least one of the Oscar-nommed films, several had seen more than one, and many had vocal opinions -- whether they'd seen the films or not. Mike turned out to have seen quite a few of the films, so I'm including his thoughts as well, even though he harassed me about wanting my job. Sadly for Mike, I'm not going anywhere, but at least he gets to have his opinions seen by Cinematical readers far and wide. If the conversations seem a bit ... discombobulated ... well, that's because they were. You try getting a pack of hyper teenagers to settle down and talk about film.


BEST PICTURE

When it came to which film should win Best Picture, the teens' pick, perhaps not surprisingly, was Juno. Here's what they had to say about it:

"Juno! It's the best film EVER! I've seen it, like, four times. I love the soundtrack!"

"I liked the film, but I hated the sound track." "You hated the soundtrack? What? How could you hate the soundtrack?"

"I think its good, cause it's chill." "Chill?" "Yeah, chill."

"I think people in our age group like it, because it was targeted at our, you know, maturity level."

"Well, it started out like it was going to be a typical teen movie, but it delved into harder issues, and it had a lot in there for adults to enjoy it too."

"But would adults enjoy it?"

Michael: " I really like the way Diablo Cody writes dialog, especially teen dialog. I've compared her favorably to Joss Whedon in that respect."

"I liked it because it was real. Like, I could picture somebody at my school getting knocked up and going through that situation. It wasn't like, There Will be Blood or something that was just, like, way out of whack. That's just not something we can relate to."

"Yeah, we're a little young to have known a cowboy."

"Dude, you're in Oklahoma."

"And babies have fingernails ..."

ME: One of the criticisms a lot of my adult colleagues have is that they thought --"

"Oh, what, it was too immature?"

ME: No, that they thought the dialog was unrealistic, and that no real teenagers talk that smart."

"I think that's a really dumb stereotype of teenagers. Sure, there's dumb teenagers, but there are plenty of very intelligent ones, too."

"I found that the dialog sounded very much like my friends."

"It was totally real."

ME: What about the criticism that it was unrealistic that a girl as smart as Juno would have unprotected sex?

"Well, it said she had sex ed, but that could have been like, one class."

"The kids at my school think sex ed is creepy. It's taught by, like, a 70-year-old woman and we can't really pay attention because everyone is so grossed out."

ME: But is it realistic that smart teenagers have unprotected sex?

Collectively: "Yes!"

"Look, just because you're smart doesn't necessarily mean you're educated about everything."

ME: Moving on to Best Director (I read the list of choices)

"Michael Clayton, what was that one again?" "It's George Clooney. Lawyer movie." "Oh, right ... No."

Michael: I really like the Coen brothers. I've not seen No Country, but I love their other films, and based on the strength of their past work, I'd have to say they're contenders."

"It's gotta be Juno all the way on this one."

ME: So, Jason Reitman?

Collectively: "Oh yeah."

"We're just gonna pick Juno for everything."

ME: Okay, well it's not nominated in the next category, so you'll have to choose something else. Best Actor (I start to read the choices and get as far as Johnny Depp, when --

(loud, ear piercing squeals ensue)

"Johnny Depp!!! Next."

(I read the rest of the choices, getting to Viggo Mortensen ... )

"Omigod, Viggo Mortensen was SO good in that. He was all like (in a bad Russian accent), 'Look at me, I am going to make you think I'm a bad guy, but I'm not really a bad guy ..."

"Oh, thanks! I haven't seen it! Geez!"

"Also, Viggo went, like, underground with the Russian mob for like, two weeks to prepare for the role, and had all the tattoos and everything. And it had the best naked fight scene ever. It was even better than Borat!"

ME: Okay, better naked fighting than Borat, got it. That's going in the piece for sure.

"It was way better than any fights I've had naked ...

ME: Mmmm ... Okay, moving on ... Best Actress (I read the nominees)

"Cate Blanchett!"

"Um ... excuse me? Keira Knightley's not in there?"

"No, she's not, because she's a BAD actress!"

"What? No she's not!"

"I think Ellen Page did a very good job of showing the emotions she was going through, what it would be like to be pregnant and to have a child."

"No, I want Cate Blanchett!"

ME: Did you see Elizabeth: The Golden Age?

"Yes, I did, and I thought it was gorgeous. And I just love that time period, and the costumes were amazing."

ME: Okay, Best Supporting Actor ... (read the choices)

"I really like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but I haven't seen him in that movie. But I wrote like, a preview for it for my school paper and I liked the description of his character."

ME: You wrote a review without seeing the film?

"No, no, not a review, per se. More like a ... what's the word? Kind of like a summary of what the film's about ..."

ME: Synopsis?

"Yeah, one of those, right."

ME: Okay, Best Supporting Actress (I start to read the nominees, get as far as Cate Blanchett for "I'm Not There" ... )

"What's that one?"

"She played Bob Dylan, right?"

"Wait, what? She played Bob Dylan? What was that called again? I gotta see that."

(I go back to the nominees)

"Wait, Ruby Dee? She was the older woman? Why is she nominated, she wasn't hardly on the screen at all!"

(I get to Saiorse Ronan)

"Oh, she was the kid in Atonement. Is she kinda like Dakota Fanning?

ME: I'd say she's more like Anna Paquin.

(Blank looks all around.)

"What's Dakota Fanning doing now? "

Michael: She's playing a rape victim.

"Eww."

ME: Okay, documentary. Pay attention now, I know you've see at least one of these. (I read the list)

Michael: So Sicko's kind of the happy film.

"Of the two I saw, I liked No End in Sight better than Sicko, because I don't like Michael Moore's style. He's very open about it, but he's definitely pushing his own point of view."

"He's very biased."

Anne: No End in Sight was biased, but you felt like it was justified.

"I have things to say about No End in Sight and Sicko. I think No End in Sight is a very good documentary."

"It had a point but it didn't push it too hard. I feel like Michael Moore is attacking me!"

ME: Okay, Best Original Screenplay. (I read the list)

"Ratatouille, I LOVE Ratatouille!"

"Lars and the Real Girl was so sweet. It was such a great movie. That's all I'm saying, it was really sweet. I'm not giving it away!"

Michael: I would like to see Diablo Cody win for Juno. That script was really well written.

ME: Okay, last one, Adapted Screenplay, and then I'll let you get on with your uh ... religious stuff and moral upbringing. (that gets a laugh)

"I'm gonna go with Atonement."

"I heard real good things about Diving Bell. I didn't get to go see it, though."

(brief explanation of Diving Bell ensues)

"He could only move one eyelid? God, that would suck."

I explain that he dictated the book on which the film is based using only his left eyelid.

"How long did it take to write the book? That had to be really hard."

"Wow ... what if he accidentally blinks at the wrong time ...?"

Thanks very much to the First UU high school youth group for indulging me in talking about the Oscars. They were a lot of fun, and they certainly had a lot to say.

Tags: academy awards, oscar predictions, oscars, oscars2008