"Juno" (2007)

Rating:R:15

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Directed By: Jason Reitman

Written By: Diablo Cody

Released: December 4^th, 2007

Runtime: 96 minutes

Studio: Fox Searchlight

Summary:

When precocious teen Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) becomes pregnant, she chooses a failed rock star and his wife (Jennifer Garner) to adopt her unborn child. Complications occur when Mark, the prospective father, begins viewing Juno as more than just the mother of his future child, putting both his marriage and the adoption in jeopardy.

Review:

This film is ten years old! How crazy is that? Time flies.

Juno is a wonderful coming of age film that I think you’d be pretty hard pressed not to fall in love with. I have yet to meet one person who’s seen it and didn’t have something positive to say about it. I always forget how good it is until I re-watch it. 

Ellen Page is fantastic here. Nobody else could play the role of Juno. There’s a charm about her that’s easy to love. She is opinionated, overly confident, and a few steps ahead of her time. Juno may be detouring into adulthood for 9 months, and already have a pretty full sense of who she is, but she’s still got a lot to learn and is still growing up.

And here to help her on her journey is her insightful father played by the always impressive talents of J.K. Simmons. And her caring but equally opinionated step-mother. While she and Juno clash quite a bit during the film, both care for each other and in some ways, this makes for one of the more interesting relationships in the film – among many.

Michael Cera as the lovable awkward Bleeker. He might be an unlikely candidate for the love-interest position, but he cares a lot about Juno and proves to be one of the best friends she could ask for. He’s incredibly sweet. 

Jennifer Garner has never been one of my favourite actors. If her role in ‘Catch Me If You Can’ was anything to go by, she was seriously miscast there. However, the role of the desperate wanna-be-mother suits her here. She’s tolerable because to be honest, there are times when her character definitely gets the short end of the stick and we all feel sorry for her. Her husband was a twat. There I said it. He’s a douche.

The writing stands out because the dialogue is so sharp and at times quirky. There are some great and memorable quotes. Some sweet, some amusing, some insightful.

A great comedy. If you haven’t seen it yet, get on it immediately.

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