RSS 2.0Juno (2007)
Right behind Gone Baby Gone, this would have to be my second favorite film last year. Juno, starring Ellen Page as the title character, as well as Michael Cera, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, is a wonderful comedy that hits the right spot on the intelligent meter, avoiding the pretentious border. The acting, writing and directing—the fundamentals of a good film—all come together.
The story of Juno simply chronicles the nine months of sixteen year-old Juno and her unexpected pregnancy.
Being a fan of the canceled television show Arrested Development, I’m delighted to see both Jason Bateman and Michael Cera in the same production again. Bateman plays the potential adoptive father to Juno’s child, while Michael Cera plays the biological father to Juno’s child. It’s Cera who does particularly well in his scenes, both playing an emotional support for Juno but also being a nervous teenager.
Jennifer Garner plays the wife to the Bateman character. Admittedly I’ve overlooked Jennifer Garner, probably due to her role as Electra in Daredevil. In this film, her work, along with Bateman’s, is filled with subtlety and nuance.
J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney play Juno’s parents. The film makers are smart enough not to go the cliché route and have these characters over react to their teenage daughter’s pregnancy. Simmons and Janney lend themselves well to their supportive and nurturing roles.
Yet the film belongs to Ellen Page. She got my attention in Hard Candy where she played another precocious teen, but with a vendetta. Then she surprisingly captured my attention again in her very brief role in the X-Men: The Last Stand. Why that movie? Well, because her character was taking screen time off the Anna Paquin character. Paquin–an academy award winner–was getting outclassed by Page, despite the brevity of the role. Now with Juno, Ellen Page has demonstrated that she is more gifted than Anna Paquin. Sorry Paquin fans. Credit must also go to Writer Diablo Cody and Director Jason Reitman for crafting material that aids itself to Ellen Page’s talents.
Jose (41 posts)Illustrator from Ann Arbor, MI Favorite Directors: Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, and Christopher Nolan. http://www.jtungol.com
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I agree whole heartedly. This movie oozes with charm and snappily delivered smarty pants banter. Reitman is clearly paying hommage to Preston Sturgess’ 1944 classic film, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. It’s subversive and fun while both attacking “moral values” and reaffirming them; in a contemporary setting. This one was my favorite from 2007.
Comment by Denise — Mon April 21, 2008 @ 19:08This is one of those films that I know I can go back to over and over again. I bought the Blue Ray version and they gave me some software so I can put the movie in my Ipod. Now, I find myself watching a few minutes of it throughout the day.
Thanks for mentioning the Sturgess film. I’ll check it out.
Comment by Jose — Wed April 23, 2008 @ 1:02I really enjoyed this too. Great soundtrack by the way.
Comment by suzero — Thu April 24, 2008 @ 23:33i thought this movie was awesome and really funny.
Comment by Helen — Sat April 26, 2008 @ 18:36The buddy holly song really works on the soundtrack. i had to buy it afterwards.
It took me longer than usual to actually get enough courage to go and see the new Ellen Page movie, which by and large, was due to the incredible buzz and hype behind the film. I generally don’t mind a lot of fan buzz on a film but the advertising nearly destroyed any possibility of me seeing the movie as it appeared to be another in a long line of precocious teen melodrama films that plagued the latter half of the 90′s and the early years of the new millenium. Nevertheless, I did go out and rent it and despite my intuition was pleasantly surprised althought the writing was borderline pretentious i.e. Dawson Creek-like. It did maintain it self though with the help of a good and somewhat overlooked cast, especially the actors that portrayed Juno’s parents. I think their dialog was by far the funniest. In the end, for a post-Degrassi Canadian melodrama it accomplished its duty of being entertaining.
Comment by Don Dahl — Fri May 9, 2008 @ 15:09Yeah, the writing is certainly at the borderline. I love the dialog but at the same time you KNOW that people don’t talk like that, especially coming from a teenager in this particular situation. Yet the characters and the cast are so charming that I have to forgive some of the unrealistic aspects of the film.
If you want to see hear some pretentious teenage dialog, watch or re-watch Heathers. I used to love that movie but now I just noticed that the dialog has absolutely no basis in reality. That movie has not aged well.
I believe that good writing has longevity but great writing never dies. I think Diablo Cody’s screenplay is good, but only time will tell if its great.
Comment by Jose — Fri May 9, 2008 @ 23:54I loved this charming movie.
Comment by xandra47 — Mon July 21, 2008 @ 12:40I bought it and I watched it a few times now. It is a feel good movie.