Once or twice a year we’re treated to a movie that’s strikingly fresh, engaging, and irresistible. Juno is one of those special films - the sort of movie you want to rush out and tell everyone to see. Juno’s so good it makes sitting in a crowded movie theater surrounded by obnoxious people who seem unable to resist the urge to talk or check text messages more than just worthwhile. Juno’s disarmingly charming and completely real, and one of the best films of 2007.
The Story
Juno’s an unusual girl whose personality matches her interesting first name. Whip-smart, witty and mature beyond her age, Juno finds herself pregnant after a sexual encounter with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Although at first she leans toward an abortion, going as far as to visit a clinic before opting not to go through with it (the deciding factor is that the baby already has fingernails), Juno decides the wisest thing to do is to give the baby up for adoption. That decision means she has to break the news to her dad (J.K. Simmons) and stepmom (Allison Janney). After all, hiding an ever increasing tummy for nine months is not really an option.
Surprisingly, the parents take the news not quite in stride, but at least without freaking out. Dad even goes as far as to visit the adoptive couple she’s picked out from an ad, and offers to help with the legal paperwork. Dubbing herself the ‘precautionary whale’, Juno remains at her high school although the sideways glances she’s used to receiving become full-on glares once the pregnancy is obvious.
As the delivery date approaches, Juno reassesses her relationship with Bleeker, a boy she’s always been attracted to but has denied having feelings for – other than friendship. She’s also forced into reassessing her plan to place their child with Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman) when the couple turns out to be not quite the perfect potential adoptive parents she thought they were.
Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Ellen Page in Juno.
Here’s what I learned from watching Juno: Ellen Page is a force to be reckoned with, screenwriter Diablo Cody is enormously talented, and director Jason Reitman proved Thank You for Smoking was not a fluke. That film skewered the tobacco industry, but Reitman takes it a little easier on teen pregnancy in Juno.
First-time screenwriter Cody, a former stripper/blogger, understands how people talk as well as how to build characters and tell a compelling story. The dialogue in Juno rings true. These aren’t merely characters tossing off witty lines and pithy comments. Cody’s got an incredible gift for writing out real conversations instead of the stilted Hollywood version that so often populates - and ruins - movies.
Whatever else Page does in what’s sure to be a lengthy, accolade-filled career, Juno will no doubt always be considered one of her finest performances. Page showed she had something special to offer in 2006’s Hard Candy, but with Juno she's catapulted into a new level of leading actors.
Janney, Simmons, Bateman, and Garner flesh out the adult roles, and each brings a little something special to the mix. Hot off a starring turn in this past summer’s blockbuster comedy, Superbad, Michael Cera settles for a supporting part in this, with his sad-sack demeanor and puppy dog eyes perfect for the part of a guy caught in the friend zone wanting more. It would been fun to see Bateman and Cera together for at least one short scene, but it also wouldn’t have made any sense to the story. Alas, keeping it real is better than adding a scene just to make all of us who miss Arrested Development (why do they always cancel the best shows?) happy about seeing a mini-reunion of ‘Michael’ and ‘George-Michael’.
Ellen Page, Olivia Thirlby, and Allison Janney in Juno.
Juno’s incredibly smart, funny, and heartwarming. But above all, it’s loaded with characters you want to get to know and who are fully fleshed out onscreen. Don't be frightened by the subject matter. Just go see this one with an open-mind and be ready to be entertained by one of the best movies of the year.
GRADE: A
Juno was directed by Jason Reitman and is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language.
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