Juno Review

There's no doubt that by this time you've already heard plenty about this flick, it's already grossed almost 100 million and become one of 2007's biggest successes. So the question remains, "is it really as good as everyone says?" I guess that would depend on who you ask. While praise has been all over the place for Juno, there has also been a noticeable backlash against the movie. Most of the negative talk is in regards to the dialogue, which is drenched in pop-culture references aimed mostly at the indie-art crowd.

The movie is basically the story of 16 year old Juno played by Ellen Page (Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand) who gets pregnant by a shy, awkward boy named Paulie Bleeker (Micheal Cera) and how she deals with the unplanned pregnancy. She winds up finding a couple to possibly adopt the baby in the Penny Saver classifieds of all places. The couple, played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, are desperate to have a family and Juno is only more than happy to give them her baby.

I had an unusual experience in seeing Juno in the theater since the power went out about 30 minutes into the movie and we had to leave. Though the part I had seen was pretty funny and enjoyable. We returned the following night to see the movie again from the beginning. At that point, my opinion shifted somewhat towards the movie. At second viewing, the jokes weren't anywhere near as clever and became somewhat annoying. The feeling continued somewhat throughout the rest of the movie. I also found the inappropriate relationship between Bateman and Page to be incredibly uncomfortable to watch. This is also where some of Juno's charm started to wear off. The girl who is witty enough to lob insults and reference people I've never heard of should be smart enough to see what's going on and she clearly isn't. It doesn't completely ruin the movie, but it does make it hard to really care about or believe in her character.

What is good about the movie is its great supporting cast. In particular, Micheal Cera's (Arrested Development, Superbad) charcter and Juno's father, played by J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man, OZ) who both provide the movies' best characters and performances. Cera's "deer caught in headlights" look he often uses is absolutely hilarious.

Overall, the movie had me divided on whether or not I liked it as much as I was wanting to. I couldn't help but feel old and uncool watching someone who had seemingly unlimited amounts of cool at their disposal. Though, I guess it wouldn't be as interesting movie without it.