Juno (Ellen Page) is an all knowing teen who is so smart she ends up pregnant by her goofy classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera).
Yet, without missing a beat, Juno has the whole problem figured out - find her unborn child the ‘perfect' set of parents who are desperate to adopt, then sashay back to her normal life in the suburbs. Trouble is, things are never quite that simple.
This is 2008’s early indie hit with four Oscar nominations and everyone who possesses a heartbeat saying they love it. Can it possibly be as good as all that?
They say:
Variety: "An ultra smart mouthed comedy."
Time Out: "Mind bogglingly ill judged. If you want our advice, rent Ghost World."
Empire: "A sharp edged, sweet centred, warm hearted coming of age movie."
We say:
If you think this is going to be a film about a teenage girl dealing with the rigours of pregnancy, giving up her baby for adoption and quite possibly falling in love, well, you’re right - that’s Juno in a nutshell.
This is not a criticism as such, just a friendly warning. With all the hype surrounding this picture you could be forgiven for thinking it will reinvent the wheel then drive you home on it. Fact is this is a well made, funny, frequently moving slice of life - but that’s it.
The story of Juno’s plight does veer off into some interesting avenues. You can comfortably second guess the plot, though a dark character reversal towards the end certainly keeps the overall climax in limbo.
However this particular transition clouds the cleanliness of the tale and may leave you scratching your head as to the point - it gets us to the moving finale, but not exclusively so. Juno’s tete-a-tete with her dad (a mature, affecting JK Simmons) takes us far enough anyway. More time should have been spent on Bleeker’s reaction to the pregnancy - his journey.
Director Jason is son of filmmaker Ivan Reitman - which in the great man’s eighties heyday remains a serious endorsement (he directed Ghostbusters), but not so much now (he also directed My Super Ex-Girlfriend).
Evidently Jason is more of an actors director, as every performance in Juno is spot on. While Ellen Page as the sharp tongued heroine is worthy of plaudits, so too is her on/ off boyfriend Michael Cera. He is so weird that girls must flock to him in real life. Best of the bunch is Alison Janney as the buddy everyone wishes they had. She has an inescapable dog fetish too, which actually plays out far more pleasantly than it reads.
What takes this potentially ‘very good’ film and drop kicks it into the ‘good’ basket is a transparent desire to be so agonisingly trendy. Juno is a cocky little upstart who remains too tiresome to care about. And an unlit pipe as a symbol of defiance? Really?
Former stripper Diablo Cody’s script is full of super cool innuendos and product slang that nobody outside America will understand. Her dialogue isn't honest or realistic, but clever clever chatter to fill up the trailer. Teenagers might want to talk this way, but most can‘t even formulate a coherent sentence, never mind crack a joke about China‘s Maternal and Infant Health Care Act. As an audience, we cannot engage if we do not believe.
Add too some twee slacker music (mainly chosen by Page) that belongs on every mobile phone advert ever made and Juno is this year’s Little Miss Sunshine with twenty percent extra cool.
A cosy night out for those who refuse to go to the multiplex. But like them, Juno tries far too hard to be hip. That said, this is nifty little package with just enough to feel swell about.
CAST
Ellen Page
Jason Bateman
Jennifer Garner
Michael Cera
DIRECTOR
Jason Reitman
TIME
96 mins
POSTED...
Tue 12 Feb 2008 at 8:08pm
