Muriel Award: Best Screenplay
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds [143 points / 21 votes]
“While the screenplay for Inglourious Basterds is as formally audacious as most of Quentin Tarantino’s films, it clicked with audiences puzzled by the long stretches of deliberate ennui in Death Proof and the multiple perspectives on a heist in Jackie Brown. Basterds is no less daring, leaving its ostensible hero offscreen for long stretches of time, weaving together three separate narrative threads and allowing single scenes to unfold for more than 20 minutes. Yet Basterds is held together beautifully with a renewed self-discipline by Tarantino, who demonstrates his respect for the great directors name-dropped in the film by adhering strictly to the rules of classical Hollywood storytelling. In the opening chapter of the film and particularly the aforementioned 20-minute scene - the astounding tavern sequence halfway through the film - one can sense Tarantino pushing Hitchcock’s theory of suspense as far as it can go. The tavern sequence piles reversals on top of misdirection, sustaining tension seemingly past the breaking point; just as the scene threatens to become tedious, we’re blindsided with a masterfully executed payoff.
The whole film is like that, toying with our expectations with as much glee as Landa toying with poor LaPadite. When it becomes clear where the film is heading, Inglourious Basterds reveals itself as a brilliant cinematic prank and a surprisingly nuanced reflection on cinema’s role in the 20th century mythmaking. On top of this, the film crackles with Tarantino’s signature dialogue, there’s not a single wasted moment or false note and, though QT is mostly faithful to Hollywood tradition, there’s still room for playfully anachronistic flourishes, like the ’70s font introducing “HUGO STIGLITZ,” that remind us that classical Tarantino is still a smartass.” - Andrew Bemis
Runners-up:
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man [125/19]
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox [86/15]
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche, In the Loop [84/13]
Tony Gilroy, Duplicity [48/8]
