Movie Review - Juno

Movie Review - Juno

Starring Ellen Page & Micheal Cera. Directed by Jason Reitman.

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, and language. Runtime of 96 minutes.

Juno is an independant movie. It's got a big budget for a independant film and has some big name actors playing smaller roles, but overall Juno is a product of the independant film cycle. It's doing great at the box office and has been since its release over 7 weeks ago. Each week, Juno continues to perform and for good reason. This is a well made, interesting movie that has amazing dialogue, great acting, and subtle, effective directing. Did I mention the music? Awesome music as well!

As you might tell, I really enjoyed Juno. The entire movie flows very well and there is hardly a part that doesn't just entertain. The show just melts together so perfectly that there is hardly anything to pick apart.

***WARNING: THE NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS!***

Below, I have copied and pasted a full synopsis of the film.

Juno (Ellen Page) is a Mid-Western highschooler, who decides one day, out of boredom or curiosity, to have sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), a member of her school's track team. She likes him well enough, but isn't hung up on him. This one time encounter results in Juno's pregnancy. She and her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) decide to take control of the situation by browsing for prospective adoptive parents in the local Pennysaver newspaper, and Juno settles on seemingly the perfect, affluent couple Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner) who is desperate to have a child. Junos sensitive father (J.K. Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney) are very supportive of her and help Juno with her decision to give the baby up for adoption. Juno and her father check out Mark and Vanessa Loring to see if they are the right couple. As time moves closer to having the baby, Juno grows more into a woman, yet she is still a teenager with all the same problems and a few more.

****SPOILERS END HERE****

The interesting thing about Juno is the dialogue. It is so unrealistic in the fact that not many people often talk like that on an everyday basis, however the acting and directing do an excellent job of phasing in to real situations that it feels natural for them to be delivering it. From here, Juno takes off and pulls you into its world.

The Juno world is populated with lots of characters that all have ticks. For instance, our male lead has a thing with orange tic-tacs. These 'ticks' and the accompanying dialogue make for a comedy that doesn't shout out "laugh at me." Juno is more content making you smile the entire movie, which is more impressive to me than one or two big laughs. It's not a laugh out loud comedy but one you'll most likely want to return to.

Ellen Page is the main actress who plays Juno and carries most of the movie on her back. The emotional journey she goes through is a great tale of growing up, even if the journey was started by a regrettable act. Juno makes it clear that teenage pregnancy is not a good thing, but it also looks at it from more than one point of view and doesn't ram morals down your throat. It is a cautionary tale indeed as you can see the damage done, but it is also a story of love.

I think Juno is one of the best movies to come out of the year 2007. In a year that saw Pirates 3, Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, I am Legend, Transformers, and more, that is an impressive feat for such a small movie with no action scenes(unless you count child birth!). I give Juno a MUST WATCH rating and highly recommend checking this movie out immediately.

Juno is playing at Cinema 3 in McCook, Nebraska. Check out the showtimes at www.fridleytheatres.com.