Juno
I saw the film the other day, and I have nothing but glowing praises for it. As far as teen / coming of age movies are concerned, I tend to regard them with a head full of reservations, since the stories tend to be a little bit lackluster (and by lackluster, I mean absurdly silly). But Juno promised something out of the ordinary, since it was talking about underage teen pregnancy.
Can you say exclamation point?
One of the main reasons I wanted to see this film was because Ellen Page, best known as Shadowcat from X3, played the titular character. In case you didn’t notice, Page was a cutie who knew how to act, and that caught my eye, and I told myself that I’d be watching out for her future movies. When a friend told me about her role in Juno, I left my reservations at the doorstep.
What I ended up with was a treasure. Boasting a cast that, in my opinion, was studded with a smattering of geek-loved actors (Jason Bateman and Michael Cera from Arrested Development, Ellen Page from X3, J.K. Simmons from Sipderman and Thank You For Smoking), and a script written by somebody with a golden mind for fast talk and brilliant one-liners (the fact that McSweeney’s being mentioned made me giggle like a schoolgirl notwithstanding).
The film also features an awesome soundtrack ranging from classic Sonic Youth numbers to sweet acoustic ditties which adds a little bit more geek flavor to the film, seeing as how some of the items were a bit musically obscure for the passive listener (although this doesn’t mean that the songs weren’t good).
Juno was directed by Jason Reitman, who also directed Thank You For Smoking, and showcases the man’s ability to brilliantly pace and shoot the comedic sequences in his films. I loved his work with the previous film, and the second was just as superb. I wouldn’t call it a better film than Thank You for Smoking, but Juno has a certain charm that the subtler style of filming was able to bring out.
My rating: very good. Juno received a series of awards and nominations from pretty much all of the important award-giving entities, and I’d have to say that the wins are very well-deserved. If you’re looking for an intelligent comedy with a deep-seated story, then you don’t have to look any further; Juno is a gem of a story.