2011 Calvin Awards: Best Screenplay
By Josh Spiegel
February 18, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
No surprises here, sorry. This year, the Calvin goes to The Social Network, written by Aaron Sorkin. Though the film’s Oscar hopes are in doubt for bigger categories like Best Director and Best Picture, pretty much everyone still thinks Sorkin, the former creator of The West Wing, is going to pick up an Oscar for his fast-paced, dialogue-heavy screenplay about the creation of the social networking website Facebook, based on The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. As I said, our voters were surprisingly on the same page here, as Sorkin’s work received 65% of the first place votes. We’re not always going against each other’s opinions, but this much agreement is something rare at BOP. Still, when you think back to The Social Network, can you blame us?
Sorkin’s work is a big part of why The Social Network succeeds so well. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake all give great performances here (and I can tell you that I never thought I’d include the latter name in any such sentence). But would their work be as notable if they hadn’t had such dialogue to deliver? “If you guys were the inventors of Facebook…you’d have invented Facebook.” “Did I accurately answer your condescending question?” And so on. The Social Network is a great film, but it’s so successful because of Aaron Sorkin’s excellent writing. We here at Box Office Prophets couldn’t help but agree with just about every critics’ group, guild, and other award-givers this year: The Social Network’s script rules.
Though Sorkin’s victory here is very dominant, that doesn’t mean other films didn’t make solid showings in the category. Our number two screenplay of 2010 is another adapted work, this time from Joel and Ethan Coen, who wrote a remake of True Grit, the 1969 Western starring John Wayne. This time, True Grit stars Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. The Coens delivered another entertaining film, possibly their most accessible. The most difficult role went to newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, as the young lead who has to be smart but not precocious. The script is as funny as anything the Coens have written, and the performers are more than up to the challenge. Though True Grit wasn’t close to The Social Network here, it was one of only five films with any first place votes. True Grit is another home-run from the Coens, from directing to writing to everything else.
For our number three pick, spin the top to make sure you’re not dreaming. Did it fall over? Okay, good. Yes, we’ve chosen Inception as the number-three screenplay of 2010. This amazing, mind-bending blockbuster from Dark Knight helmer Christopher Nolan is also one of the five films to receive any first-place votes, and it’s not hard to see why. Inception is an extraordinarily difficult film, should it work at all. “It’s an action movie that takes place in a dream…and a dream within a dream…and a dream within a dream within a dream?” The concepts at play in Inception are kept somewhat vague (while we are told that the military requested technology to access people’s minds, we don’t know why or which military asked), but the world is completely believable. Nolan’s script is an original trailblazer, packed with memorable action and emotional character arcs.
Our number four pick is the answer to the following question: what is the best film trilogy ever? Okay, technically, the answer is the Toy Story trilogy, not just Toy Story 3. But you know what I mean. Toy Story 3, while not receiving any first-place votes, did very well in our voting, barely missing the number three spot. That the people at Pixar Animation Studios once again made a brilliant film is not shocking, but the emotional power of Toy Story 3 is one of the great surprises of 2010. The script has also been nominated for an Oscar — while it won’t win, the Academy is right to acknowledge the Pixar gift of crafting compelling, inventive, and rewarding stories. For number five, we take a right turn into the psychological drama, with Black Swan. This horror film set in the world of ballet features a bravura lead performance from Natalie Portman, and describes an insane world of duality (black and white, good and evil, love and hate) appropriately. Some love this, some hate it, but Black Swan is unforgettable one way or the other.
Everybody and their mother (especially the mothers) loves The King’s Speech. We only love it up to the number six slot for Best Screenplay. Written by David Seidler, The King’s Speech tells the story about how the King of England overcomes a stutter and makes a new friend. There’s no question that there’s a crowd-pleasing element here, and people have really thrilled to it. Seidler may well share the stage with Sorkin on Oscar night as the two writing champions of the year. Our number seven Best Screenplay is one of the underrated films of the year, Easy A. Emma Stone proves that she’s one of the smartest and funniest actresses in the business in a modern-day retelling of The Scarlet Letter. Stone is a perfect match for this film’s witty and knowing script. If you liked Mean Girls, Easy A is for you, filled with biting one-liners and knowing satire.
Rounding out our top ten are three very different films. In order from eight to ten, they are Winter’s Bone, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and The Ghost Writer. Winter’s Bone is a true independent film, and has made its lead, Jennifer Lawrence, enough of a star that she’s about to be eaten alive by a new X-Men movie. The script helps build the palpable atmosphere of the Ozarks within the film; the script also creates some disturbing, creepy characters right out of the darkest film noirs. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, however, is an all-out sensory overload, even as it describes how the title character grows up just a bit when he falls in love with the girl of his dreams and fights off her evil ex-boyfriends. Funny, knowing, relatable, and surprisingly believable, Scott Pilgrim is the cult film of the year and it shouldn’t shock you that we loved it. The Ghost Writer is our number-ten pick. This thriller was, in many ways, return to form for director Roman Polanski, with Ewan McGregor playing a ghost-writer working on an autobiography for an embattled politico.
Of course, even though only ten films made our Best Screenplay picks, we also loved some other films that just didn’t get enough votes to be on the top ten. Two of those films happen to have had first-place votes, so let’s talk about them first: Date Night and I Love You, Philip Morris. While Date Night didn’t have a lot of overall votes, its two first-place votes vault it high enough into honorable mention. Putting Steve Carell and Tina Fey in a romantic comedy together is enough of a gimme that they’re able to elevate the film by being so charming with each other. I Love You, Philip Morris has a completely different romance, between Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. Their performances and the caustic, satiric script have been lauded since the film opened this past December, even if most people haven’t had a chance to check it out.
Among our other screenplays for honorable mention, almost all are up for one Oscar or more. From The Kids Are All Right to The Town to How To Train Your Dragon, we loved some of these awards hopefuls; just not everyone did. All of those films have great attributes (I’d say the performances in the former two and the animation in the latter are their best qualities), but the scripts have champions here. Our last three honorable mention picks are all bleak in one way or another. Four Lions, a little-seen satire from British comedian Chris Morris, is a political satire, but by telling a story about would-be terrorists, it’s hard not to see the dark side behind the laughter. Rabbit Hole and Blue Valentine, on the other hand, are as sad as possible. The former tells of how a couple deal with the aftermath of their child being killed, while the latter shows a relationship in bloom and in its final throes in graphic detail. The female leads from both films — Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams — have been nominated for Oscars, but the scripts, while impressive, got no recognition. Yet another reason for us to create the Calvins. We’re giving recognition for the films that get no love from the Oscars.
The Calvins Introduction
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture