My wife and I watched Juno a couple of weekends ago. I was underwhelmed. It’s Diablo Cody’s fault.

Jason Bateman looking very much the corporate ditty writer in Juno, also starring Jennifer Gardner and Ellen Page.

For me, good dialogue is one of the most important elements of a film, more important than plot, way more important than car crashes or bomb blasts, although considerably less important than beach scenes of Angelina Jolie. And I’m not one of those people who will criticize colorful or quirky dialogue because “real people don’t talk like that.” If I remember correctly, that was one of Roger Ebert’s quibbles with Raising Arizona, the movie that gave us the best infertility line of all time: “Her insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase.” Sure, real people don’t talk like that, but it’s still damn funny, especially coming out of H. I. McDunnough’s poor-bred mouth.

So while I enjoy eccentric dialogue, I felt that young miss Juno spread it on a little thick and it came across as too cutesy and clever. Almost every line was delivered sarcastically or ironically, and consisted of hipster lingo, offbeat expressions and pop culture references. A little bit of that would have been fine, but it was so pervasive that after awhile it was hard to hear Juno over the sound of screenwriter Diablo Cody’s keyboard while she was riffing out one-liners. As other critics have mentioned, Juno also referenced things that a teenager today would not likely be familiar with, such as that master of madcap, Soupy Sales.

Despite all of this, I still liked the Juno character and I think that Ellen Page is a fine actress. Here are few thoughts on the rest of the cast:

Jason Bateman was okay, and I’m a big fan thanks to his career-reviving work as Michael Bluth, but I didn’t really buy him as a Melvin’s fan who dreamed of indie rock stardom. He, like Michael J. Fox, is just too non-threatening looking to play an arty or dangerous character. I would have cast James Franco or Mark Ruffalo in that role.

Jennifer Garner is always a delight to behold, but she can look slightly Tolkienish when she tucks her hair behind her ears. That said, she beautifully portrayed the pain of unrequited maternity.

J.K. Simmons’ turn as the gruff but supportive father was reminiscent of the dad played by John Ashton in Some Kind of Wonderful (“Ya know what that means? Ya got yer first year’s money, Keith.”) Both roles portray a parent’s ability to think that their kids are complete idiots, yet still do right by them.

Michael Cera was likable, but he didn’t get to mutter any of his trademark asides, the subtlety of which helped to balance out the crudeness in Judd Apatow’s comedies.

That’s about all I have to say. I found Juno enjoyable enough, I gave it three out of five stars on NetFlix, it just didn’t live up to the hype. After reading a few of Diablo Cody’s columns in Entertainment Weekly, it’s become really apparent how her personality overwhelms her writing. Hopefully she can break free of that tendency before she scripts her next movie.

*Adapted from the On the Treadmill series that is currently on hiatus. I’m still watching movies while I exercise, I just haven’t felt compelled to review them.