2007 Movie Review #36: "Juno" (original) (raw)

If Diablo Cody doesn't win a screenplay Oscar for this film, the world is completely messed up.

The more I think about this film, the more I love it. Initially, I had issue with how non-chalant the parents were over the pregnancy, as well as Juno. Plus, I have issues with the message the film could be sending out - it's o.k. to get preggers at 16 b/c there is always good people out there to adopt your kid - and your parents will be fine with it. Well, I've really been thinking about it and the "non-chalant-ness" (hmm, word?) is just the way those parents were and Juno, herself seems very low-key and laid back. Now, not all parents would be like this, so Juno was lucky to have parents that were willing to help her out & not hate her (even though stepmom did have some great joke lines at Juno's expense!). Also, I still hope any young adult that sees this won't think that getting pregnant while still in high school is the "thing to do," but Juno seemed to be an exception to the rule. She could handle it. She was detached from the child. She didn't care what others thought of her. She knew that giving that baby to loving parents was the best thing for both of them. Plus, you have to know that I'm a teacher of 6th graders who seem to know more about sex than I do, so it's a little scary.

Ellen Page is outstanding in this film. The only other thing I've seen her in was "Hard Candy" (and X3, but that just doesn't count), which she was amazing in, so I expected good work here. She's fun! Jason Bateman was really good, too, but I've loved him since The Hogan Family, so I may be a little biased. There was too little Michael Cera, but he was love when on-screen.

Definite recommendation to see this film. It's another "Little Miss Sunshine" in the making!

ETA: I'm madly in love with Juno soundtrack. Amazon.com still has it listed as coming out Jan. 8th, but I just downloaded it from iTunes. Kimya Dawson = yay.