The Bullet Music Reviews

Film review: Juno

Tagline

A comedy about growing up... and the bumps along the way

Plot

Meet Juno, a bright, quirky sixteen year old who, after a brief romp on a ratty old armchair, has found herself unexpectedly pregnant. Unable to go through with an abortion, she instead finds herself leafing through the “baby wanted” section of the newspaper for prospective parents. Enter Mark and Vanessa Loring, the seemingly perfect couple. Vanessa is uptight and prickly towards Juno’s rather unconventional manner, but longs for a child. Mark bonds with Juno early over a shared love of music, but is somewhat more reticent about becoming a new father.

We follow Juno as she struggles through teenage life with the added stigma of an ever expanding belly. Juno is in love with the father of the baby, Paulie Bleeker. Trouble is, he’s oblivious, and Juno isn’t exactly forthcoming. Meanwhile, the closer Juno grows to her baby’s new parents, the more she learns that first impressions are not always correct. With the cracks showing in Loring’s marriage, will her child even have a home to go to?

Acting

Add this film to the reasons why Ellen Page is one to watch (Hard Candy, an acting tour de force for the young actress, being the first). Her portrayal of Juno is in turns funny, empathetic and moving. The acting was overall absolutely superb. Michael Cera brought a likable teenage awkwardness to his role. Her parents, played by J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney were wonderful to watch- I’m particularly impressed that Simmons was able to make me believe him as a caring, enviable parent, since the role I remember him best in had him cast as a Neo-Nazi rapist and murderer.

The supporting cast are wonderful. No one character is portrayed as particularly villainous- just regular people with regular flaws. People who come off as irritating are redeemed and rounded out character-wise by the end. Likewise, the heroes aren’t perfect angels either- Juno has many little flaws herself. The characters felt like real people, not archetypes. I particularly enjoyed the fact that, despite the pregnancy being the driving plot point, that the baby-to-be wasn’t the be all and end all of Juno’s life.

This is a much hyped film. In my opinion, it’s justified hype for once. It’s quirky, a little edgy, but filled with an undeniable, smile-inducing warmth. There are moments that made more than one person in the theatre chuckle out loud, and a few that left some of us near tears, myself included. The soundtrack was the perfect accompaniment; filled with such gloriously odd, kooky indie gems as the Moldy Peaches, Velvet Underground and Belle and Sebastian. If I have a bone to pick, it’s with the scriptwriter. The main arguments I see against Juno are generally concerning the dialogue, and I agree that there are a few places where it just sounds clunky and unrealistic. It’s as if the scriptwriter- who it must be said, sounds as if they are someone older trying to sound younger- were trying to sound “hip” or ironic, only to fall flat. Unfortunately, some marketing moron chose to use a lot of these verbal clunkers in the ad campaign. These instances are fairly rare though, so it isn’t off putting.

Verdict: Overall, I would highly recommend Juno, as it’s a heat-warming story with something for everyone.

Amanda [guest reviewer]