Juno Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)December 13th, 2007
JUNO
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ****
Sometimes, as in the recent and very disappointing MARGOT AT THE WEDDING by director Noah Baumbach, the high quality of the director's previous film (THE SQUID AND THE WHALE) is no indication of what follows. But in the case of JUNO's director Jason Reitman, he manages to top his previously terrific film (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) with something even more endearing and hilarious.
Don't get me wrong. JUNO is a classic small film, a real gem of a production. Full of great characters and well crafted and fascinating relationships, it is a movie to be savored, but it is no big Hollywood production, filled with overpaid, big stars you've seen many times before. Sure, there are people you will recognize in the supporting cast, including people such as Jennifer Garner ("Alias"), but the two leads are young actors you probably won't remember seeing before. It may be the best film of the year.
Ellen Page (who was amazing in HARD CANDY) plays Juno MacGuff, a spunky, tomboyish charmer who will easily win you heart. She is an outspoken extrovert with wildly off-the-wall thoughts on every subject. Michael Cera (SUPERBAD), in a decidedly understated performance, plays Paulie Bleeker, her best friend and her complete opposite. He is a wimpy introvert who is as immature as she is wise beyond her years. Both of these 16-year-olds are juniors in high school, where Paulie is on the track team and Juno is a classic loner. Paulie's bedroom says it all about him, looking for all intents and purposes like that of an eight-year-old. He looks like he'll never grow up, while Juno appears that she was born an adult.
As friends will sometimes do, Juno and Paulie decide -- before our story begins -- to experiment together. Their one-time sexual liaison results in an unwanted pregnancy, which Juno's female friends see as no problem, since the unborn child can quickly be aborted.
As the movie begins, Juno, the film's charismatic star, is on her third home pregnancy test, all positive. Her friend at the convenience store has sage and typically funny advice for her about the test results. "That ain't no Etch-a-Sketch," he tells her. "This is one doodle that can't be undid!"
Savvy and smart, Juno finds unconventional ways of dealing with her predicament. After the bored clerk at the local Planned Parenthood-like establishment tells her, "We need to know every sore and every score," Juno decides against filling out the abortion paperwork. She turns instead to the local Pennysaver ads, where, next to ads for exotic birds, is one from a Yuppyish couple eager to adopt an unwanted baby.
In two dead-on and poignant performances, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman play Vanessa and Mark Loring. The two of them had a girl once before who offered her baby and then got cold feet when it arrived. They are apprehensive but hopeful when Juno offers to sign the papers to give her unborn baby to them.
Juno is as likable as she is hilarious. "At school, I'm a legend," she says of her ever-increasing girth. "They call me a cautionary whale."
The story is full of nice surprises as well as a last act that could put you in tears for a while. Think of Juno as the center of the universe. The people in her life all form fascinating and complex relationships with her. Her dad and her stepmother, played wonderfully by J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, are loving and humorous. Perhaps the most intriguing relationship is that of Juno and Mark, who appears to take Juno under his wing as an adopted daughter, since they both share a passion for rock music and for horror films.
When the ending credits roll, don't be surprised if you get really sad because the people in JUNO are ones whom you've grown to care about dearly, so you don't want to leave them. This isn't the sort of a film that would ever have a sequel, but, if it did, I would be in the front of the line for its first showing.
JUNO runs a very fast 1:32. It is rated PG-13 for "mature thematic material, sexual content and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, December 14, 2007. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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