Movie Review: Juno
Movie Title: JunoDirector: Jason Reitman
Written by: Diablo Cody
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: PG-13
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman.
Introduction
The only reason I saw this movie was, merely, because of boredom - and because it seemed that every person on Earth and their mother was giving this movie good feedback. Roger Ebert even exclaimed that 'Juno' was one of the best movies of the year. Besides, 'Juno' was said to be comedy, and that's one of the best kinds of genres in my opinion. I figured I had enough reason to go buy a ticket for 'Juno', so I nagged my mom to go take me to the local movie theater... but she wasn't as sure as me.
"A comedy? About teenage pregnancy? How can teenage pregnancy be funny?!" Nevertheless, we still went to the movie theater. After my mother and I sat down in our seats, I thought to myself that in about 96 minutes (the movie's running time), 'Juno' would soon become my favorite movie like it had become everyone else's. 96 minutes later... that didn't exactly come true.
The Storyline
The movie focuses on a sixteen-year-old girl in Minnesota named Juno (played by Ellen Page), who has quite an unique personality. For one thing, she wears plaid skirts over jeans, is able to drink three gallons of orange juice in a day, and talks a very spiffy vocabulary. About five minutes into the movie, we learn that she is indeed "up the sprout". Quickly, she tells her pal (the one who got her pregnant), Paulie Bleeker, who unrealistically reacts to the news. After considering an abortion, she decides to go through the whole nine months and to give up her baby for adoption.
And so, Juno looks in the pennysavers and finds the ideal couple to recieve her child - Vanessa and Mark Loring. She develops a well relationship with both of them, especially with Mark with whom she watches horror movies and listens to rock music. However, Mark soon speaks his true opinion on wanting kids and his relationship with Vanessa, and Juno finds herself thinking about her relationship with Paulie and relationships overall.
Opinions
First of all, most of the script was genius. It was very well-written and apparently 'funny' - though my mother and I never laughed once while watching 'Juno', it did make me smile sometimes, and made everybody else in the theater crack up for several minutes. The acting was not very bad either. Ellen Page made Juno very likeable, and I do not think any other actress would have acted so Juno-ish. Olivia Thirlby, as Leah (Juno's best friend in the movie), was excellent as well. She delivered her lines perfectly, and Leah seems like a person I would like to be around. Though, Michael Cera could have done better as I found him to portray Bleeker as a very emotionless, calm, quiet, and rather boring person.
As this movie is about teenage pregnancy and teenagers, it is full of language, and well... other stuff that caused this movie to be PG-13. With my mother by my side, it was sort of awkard. Perhaps, this movie should have been rated R instead. My mother agrees. And my mother and I also think that this movie was not really teaching the correct message. Though I noticed its purpose was to teach the audience about relationships, it was sort of saying in a way that it's okay to have a teenage pregnancy. Just pop the baby out, give it to some nice strangers, forget about it, and everything's a OK... I think that's wrong. Teenage pregnancy is extremely serious, and this movie took it too lightly. After giving the baby to Vanessa and Mark, all Juno does is forget she was ever pregnant in the first place. I do not think even any character in the movie had responded realistically to the news of Juno's pregnancy. Bleeker was all, "... You're pregnant? Oh." Juno's parents were like, "... I would have preferred it if you were expelled or into hard drugs or something." At least, Leah had some lingo (Leah also shares Juno's spiffy vocabulary). "What?! Honest to blog?... Maybe it's just a food baby. Did you have a big lunch?... Is this for real? Like, for real for real?... Oh my god! PHUKET, THAILAND!" The unrealistic reactions and not taking teenage pregnancy serious enough, was the only thing I disliked about the script of this movie.Otherwise, the movie was very well put together and well done. I did not think it was excellent or Oscar-worthy (except for the script) or one of the best movies of the year. I only thought it was OK - and nothing more. Therefore, I seriously think though this movie was enjoyable and I do enjoy movies like this, it is very overrated. The music in the movie, however, was very underrated. Most movies have music that is widely popular and normal, but this movie holds music that I especially adore - a bit of Indie music, a bit of The Moldy Peaches.
Summary
Despite a few flaws in it, the movie 'Juno' is allright to watch when one's bored. You will probably enjoy it more if you're easily amused. Watch it with some friends, and check out the soundtrack after. But if you end up never watching 'Juno', I suppose that's okay, because in my opinion, you're not really missing out on anything. I give this movie about 3 stars out of 5.
