Pro: Whit Stillman received an Oscar nomination in this category 22 years ago for his singular debut “Metropolitan,” and this comeback feature – made after a 13-year hiatus – features the same eccentric, highly literate brand of comedy that the writers grooved to back then. For this critic's money, it's the most delicious, verbally dazzling writing achievement of the year: if there's a place for it anywhere, it's here.

Con: The film was released back in the spring and will probably have slipped from most voters' memories – if indeed they saw it in the first place – and Sony's more concerned with “Amour.” Plus, not everyone gets Stillman's cockeyed sense of humor: many critics were tickled, while others sat through it stone-faced.

- Guy Lodge