Juno (2007)

Written by Diablo Cody
Directed by Jason Reitman

I've wanted to see this movie since I first saw the trailer, I loved Jason Reitman's "Thank You For Smoking", I thought it was a bitingly funny satire, and pairing that fact with a comical trailer, I wanted to see Juno. Then it became the underdog hit of the season, scoring Golden Globe nominations, heaps of praise for writer Diablo Cody, and an ever-climbing box office number. Not to say I don't like things that get praise, No Country for Old Men is still my favorite film of the year, but all the broo-ha-ha made me think twice about rushing to see it.

With that said, I'm glad I saw it, and despite the film's tendency to want to be overly hip, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's nowhere near the best comedy of the year, but it certainly deserves the awards it is going to win in the coming weeks/months, and overall it was a good experience.

Juno (Ellen Page) is a 16 year old girl that is too hip for her own good. In a moment of teenage stupidity, she has unprotected sex with her good friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), out of what she claims is boredom. Surprise surprise, she ends up pregnant, and then tries to concoct a plan to spring this upon her father and step-mother, after deciding against an abortion, simply because "the baby has fingernails". Yes, this film has many cutesy moments like this, and these are surely the anecdotes that are winning Cody high praise from the critics. Not being out of the hipster loop myself, I felt the film was heavily laden with these moments, the ones that old people say "Aww, that was so clever" to. Me, I'm much more of a pessimist, and obvious swipes such as these don't impress me as much as they do the overly simple mainstream audiences.

So Juno tells her parents, and Bleeker, that she's pregnant. Her father (J.K. Simmons) is the best character in the whole film, the only person that actually seems real. Even her believable step-mom's (Allison Janney) attitude becomes overly cutesy and quirky, which is the obvious tag that Cody wanted attached to this film. Again, I'm not buying it.

Throughout the course of the film Juno is confronted with the pains and troubles of being a teenage mother, such as what to do with a baby she can't take care of. So before telling her parents, she finds a set of parents that she intends to give the baby away to as soon as it's born. Her father accompanies her to the meeting with the adoptive parents (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) whom Juno finds to be sweet, but like all other adults in her time, ultimately not "with it" or in simpler words, not as cool as she is. Still, she promises the baby to them, and their journey, along with Juno's, through the pregnancy makes up the meat of the film.

As for realism, there really isn't any, instead the film goes for "quirky" to replace the real, where every character has some odd fascination with doing things completely different than everyone else. Which is fine, except when that motive is established as a way to make everything quirkier. I actually think Jennifer Garner's Vanessa character is the most realistic, she doesn't do anything out of character just to do it. At the same time, Jason Bateman's Mark matches her on every level. I've never been overly impressed with either actor, I've always liked Bateman, but until this film, neither one of them really stood out for me. Still, they may not stand out as actors, but in this film, they put on the best performances. Jason Bateman really impressed me, this is his most subdued and interesting character, a man that has gone along with whatever his wife wants, purely because she wants it. Then of course through meeting Juno, he realizes he wants to merely be a grown up 16 year old boy, watching horror movies and listening to music all the time, where his wife wants to become an adult and raise a family.

Realistically speaking, I'm not even sure if the plot of this movie is possible, since there are many forms and waiting periods involved in being adoptive parents, and I'm not sure if you can just pick them at your own behest. Maybe, but knowing the adoption process in this country, not likely. Still, this all takes a backseat to the real story, of a child coping with adult decisions and feelings as Juno and Paulie Bleeker grow closer (although they spend little time in the film together) and Juno grows emotionally.

What saves this film is that it's a comedy, and instead of having to think too hard, you can laugh at a lot of the jokes, JK Simmons rules the screen as the dad, and there are some interesting performances to savor. The film is well directed, with each actor turning in good performances, and an overall good story.

As I said before, personally, I feel the script suffers a bit from its aspirations to be more than it is, linguistically and socially, but I can let that slide because the good outweighs the poor. Michael Cera is still the same character he is in every movie. I can't not like the kid, but at the same time, I really see his potential wasted as the awkward high school kid in every movie/TV show he does. Really, it's an enjoyable film, with a lot of good moments, and the one person I've noticed that I have neglected to mention a lot about is Ellen Page, who plays Juno. She is beautiful in an unconventional way, so of course the film uses this to peg her as an outcast in her high school society. Of course, the character holds this fact in contempt, constantly staying one up on her peers and the adults around her, which I'm sure is what wins the film audiences in the teenage girl demographic, because teenage girls love to see movies where their kind is portrayed as the smartest and best. If only because most often they are just the exact opposite in real life. Juno's friend Leah is played by Olivia Thirlby (story in a second) and she is believable, if not overly memorable, as the best friend/sidekick, once again who is just as quippy and smart as Juno is. Maybe it's my misogynistic side coming out, but this is one of the things that actually pushed me away from the movie, the constant insisting that these girls are smarter than everyone around them. That, and the fact that they are portrayed by 21 year old women, since of course, a real 16 year old girl would be far too immature to handle the task of playing the smarter, mature high school junior.

In the end, the movie is worth seeing for a laugh, but keep in mind it doesn't rock the foundation of the modern comedy, like many critics will lead you to believe. I think the reason I hold a lot of critic's darlings in contempt once they become underdog hits is that they usually don't deserve it. This film is as mainstream as Superbad, it just happens to be a novelty because it was first a limited release, and it was written by a woman. In my opinion, this is no reason to slather extra love onto a movie, especially since the people that are doing it are only trying to convince themselves and audiences like them. It's just sad to me that the Hollywood landscape has become so decrepit that anything that isn't pandering bullshit gets high acclaim for being original, when really it's a formula film, and a film can get awards for being nothing more than a novelty. See it if it interests you, if not, you won't be missing anything you probably haven't seen already.

8.4/10