Juno (2007)
Juno is the story of a 16 year-old girl (appropriately named Juno and played by Ellen Page) who finds out she's pregnant. She chooses not to have an abortion (in a typical cliched scene she goes to the abortion clinic but then cannot go through with it - how many times has that been seen?) and instead decides to give her baby up for adoption. She picks the prospective parents through an ad in the Penny Saver - they are Marc and Vanessa Loring, (beautifully played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) a rich and perfect couple who seem too good to be true.
Juno meets Marc and Vanessa.
The movie follows Juno's pregnancy as we see her life slowly change. Her parents and her best friend stick by her, and her friend Paul Bleeker (Michael Cera) who's also the baby's father wants to support her, but Juno won't really let him. As she begins to feel more alienated from her previous life she grows closer to Marc Loring, meeting him to hang out in his house when Vanessa isn't at home. Marc and Juno really click and there's a bit of an attraction there, but for Juno it's more about wanting the perfect father rather than the perfect boyfriend.
This film has a lot of buzz right now (and a steadily bigger and bigger ad campaign), but the question is, why? Although it pretends to be an indie movie, you can't get much more Hollywood or feel-good than this film. There really isn't much realism. Garner and Bateman played the only characters that felt like real people to me (and they were great), but everyone else (including Juno) seemed too quirky and written. There were some emotionally affecting scenes (and the last 30 minutes are the best in the film), but overall, I think it's about a B or B- film - not one of the top ten of the year. Also, Ellen Page is fine, but this film reminded me a lot of Waitress and I kept thinking how much better Keri Russell is. The Oscars seem to be all about buzz, so Page might get a nomination whereas Russell won't - but she won't deserve it.
Juno meets Marc and Vanessa.
The movie follows Juno's pregnancy as we see her life slowly change. Her parents and her best friend stick by her, and her friend Paul Bleeker (Michael Cera) who's also the baby's father wants to support her, but Juno won't really let him. As she begins to feel more alienated from her previous life she grows closer to Marc Loring, meeting him to hang out in his house when Vanessa isn't at home. Marc and Juno really click and there's a bit of an attraction there, but for Juno it's more about wanting the perfect father rather than the perfect boyfriend.
This film has a lot of buzz right now (and a steadily bigger and bigger ad campaign), but the question is, why? Although it pretends to be an indie movie, you can't get much more Hollywood or feel-good than this film. There really isn't much realism. Garner and Bateman played the only characters that felt like real people to me (and they were great), but everyone else (including Juno) seemed too quirky and written. There were some emotionally affecting scenes (and the last 30 minutes are the best in the film), but overall, I think it's about a B or B- film - not one of the top ten of the year. Also, Ellen Page is fine, but this film reminded me a lot of Waitress and I kept thinking how much better Keri Russell is. The Oscars seem to be all about buzz, so Page might get a nomination whereas Russell won't - but she won't deserve it.