Paste's editor-in-chief debates Juno with Greg Kot

It's no industry secret that indie-teen-pregnancy flick Juno and its quirky, Kimya Dawson-led soundtrack have been opening hearts and wallets across America. The Oscar-nominated film surpassed the $125 million mark last weekend, making it the "biggest specialty hit in six years" and by far the highest-grossing runner in this year's Best Picture race, according to Variety.

But Juno's accompanying album—the first #1 hit record in the history of its label, Rhino—apparently sounds less sweet and more cloying when played in the Chicago area. Or, even more specifically, in the vicinity of two of the city's nationally-known music critics, the Chicago Sun-Times' notoriously outspoken Jim DeRogatis (who "hated, hated, hated"—see, he's gently mocking his Juno-loving colleague Roger Ebert there—both the movie and its music) and his Sound Opinions radio show co-host, the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot. On his own blog, Kot refrained from passing judgment on the film but averred that he feels that "the charm of [Juno's] music...wears thin quickly" and that they should've stacked the album with more Belle & Sebastian.

Paste magazine's editor-in-chief, Josh Jackson, happens to adore both the film and its sonic offspring. On yesterday's episode of the WNYC program Soundcheck, Jackson went talking-head-to-talking-head with Kot, defending the album's charm: "For a lot of the teens who fell in love with the movie and have now fallen in love with the soundtrack, this doesn't sound like anything else that they've probably been listening to...it's a fun little record." Listen to the entire dialogue (and check out the ensuing comments) here.