I would also agree with you that How I Learned to Drive is in no way avant-garde. I can’t conceive how someone could label it as such.

I thought Juno was a little over-buzzed, but if it hadn’t been, I wonder if your review would be the same. I think the film was very understated in its conception. It doesn’t feel like a film that should have a lot of buzz behind it as it tries to be so honest in its portrayal of the life events of this young girl. I think that without the hype, I might have been able to view it for what it was, and not compare that with what I thought it was going to be based on the build up. I think this is a situation where the hype didn’t help this film. And if one liners were all you took away- at least they were great one liners! The scene with Allison Janney and the ultrasound tech. was brilliant.