Angie and I were sitting there Saturday night without a whole lot to do. I had noticed earlier that Megan had bought the movie Juno, and seeing as we had nothing better to do, we decided to watch it. First, I'll give you Angie's review of the movie: she didn't fall asleep. This is how it works at my house. If Angie sits down after 8:00pm to watch a movie and manages to stay awake through the entire thing, then it is a good movie. Angie did not fall asleep, so it should tell you something about Juno.
Okay, now my review. Juno is a drama, plain and simple with quite a few funny parts thrown in. The character of Juno, played by Ellen Page, is a 16 year old high schooler who after an adventurous evening with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker, ends up pregnant. She makes light of the whole thing, deciding to go and have an abortion.
While at the abortion clinic she gets cold feet and eventually comes upon the decision to give the baby up for adoption. The movie revolves around the four seasons, and Juno's progression through her pregnancy. During this time she seeks out and finds a set of adoptive parents for her baby.
The characters in the movie are great. Juno is an odd, but humorous character who makes some very profound statements for someone who is 16 years old. She is a misfit at school but comes across as very charismatic. The baby's father, Paulie, is a goofie looking geek who is also a runner and a musician. He looks and sounds incredibly young and is the epitome of innocence. He too is quirky, addicted to long distance running and orange tic tacs.
Juno's family is also quite odd, ranging from her dad, the furnace repair man, her step-mom, and owner of a nail salon, and her little sister, Liberty Bell. I loved the characters and frankly they really made the movie.
The movie is set in Minnesota, near St. Cloud, but the movie itself lends me the same feeling as I got watching Npolean Dynomite. This is a far superior movie though.
There are moments of seriousness mixed with some great laughs.
There are also twin storylines going on. The first deals with Juno's choice of adoptive parents and her coming to terms with them. They are played by high maintenance mom-wanna-be Jennifer Garner, and ultra-cool commercial composer and former rocker Jason Bateman. They are the perfect oil to Juno's water.
The other storyline has to do with the relationship between Paulie and Juno. The baby was a mistake, in fact, Juno and Paulie had no romantic associations before that night, they had just been friends. There are some good tension filled scenes between the two and there is a nice chemistry. This secondary storyline intermeshed well with the movie and didn't seem to get in the way at all.
I would love to give you more details about the movie, but I won't. I'll just say that it was a nice, comfortable film with fantastic acting (Ellen Page was nominated for an Academy Award), a great storyline (Diablo Cody, the writer won the Oscar for best Original Screenplay), and wonderful music. This was really a good movie.
Tell me what you think...
3 comments:
Well if we're going to talk about movies, I guess I'll have to make a Blogger account. Which I've done.
Honestly, I thought it was overhyped. There was lots of good, but I really thought Juno (the character) was pretty unbearable. I found her flippant and sarcastic and hard to relate to. A little like Mitch Walinski, but not as funny.
I also thought the soundtrack was predictably "indie". The friends I was watching it with even called it before the opening credits rolled, and I think there's something to be gleaned from that. When art-house films reach the point of predictability, they've descended into parody, and I felt like that described Juno pretty well; it plucked the expected chords without really taking any chances.
I guess the big surprise with Juno is that it is so light on conflict or complication, and that it ends happily for pretty much everyone. That's kind of a rarity in these cynical times. And the supporting cast was awesome...I would watch J.K. Simmons fill out his tax returns if they aired it on television, and I'm really intrigued with Jason Bateman's career resurgence. So I didn't hate it, but it doesn't stick with you...
...unless you count not being able to get the annoying music out of your head.
Renee,
You are entitled to an opinion, even if it is wrong (just kidding).
When I watch a movie I am coming at it from the perspective of someone who doesn't watch too many movies. I certainly can't speak with any intelligence concerning "indie" or "art-house" films. In fact, I have absolutely no credentials when it comes to reviewing movies other than the fact that some films I enjoy and some films I don't enjoy. Frankly, I respect what you have to say because I know you have a better insight than most movie fans. On the other hand, I feel as if I represent the common slob that watches a movie once every other millenium. Just to put it in perspective, the last movie I actually went to the theater to see was The Pursuit of Happyness back around Thanksgiving of last year. I told you I don't watch many movies.
Say what you will about the character Juno, she was flippant and sarcastic, but I preferred the strong and belligerent to the weepy and gelatonous goo piles that Hollywood portrays young woman as when faced with the adversity of teenage pregnancy.
The music was pleasant to me. I don't listen to music very often anymore so I enjoyed it. Say what you will about it's "indie" feel, I was happy with it. Again, to each his/her own.
I also liked the lack of outward conflict/complication. Sometimes it is nice for a movie to just roll along, a constant rhythm than lulls you into that comfort zone. I don't need a "smack you in the face with a big stick moment" to enjoy a film. This one served me well based on the mood I was in.
Now, sometimes I like a little excitment. Maybe the next fild I review will have that and we can butt heads on that.
Until then, all I will say is thanks for reading my blog. I am really happy knowing you are checking it out. It is always nice to hear from an old friend. Love and Respect.
Heck yes I'm following!
I respect your "everyman" argument. There are worse things you could watch, if you're only going to watch one movie every blue moon or soon. "Transformers" comes to mind.
Which reminds me of one of the things I hate about being a movie buff...you end up watching a lot of crap to get to any of the good.
That Juno marches to the beat of a different drum, I like. I'm not a big fan of the overly sentimental tear-jerkers either. I think they represent lazy filmmaking, in the same way that any genre film can trot out the same old tired cliches and get some mileage out of them. People are conditioned to think that they *should* like certain things, but I rarely see anyone consider their appreciation with any great depth.
Then again, it is harder to explain why you like something than why you don't. You'll see me speak critically of films far more often than you'll see me sing their praises.
The past few years I've been digging deeper into the foreign film scene. I spent a small fortune on a high-end dvd player just so could import films from Asia and Europe as soon as they became available. We all have our crosses to bear, I guess. :)
Wanna see something really cool, totally family friendly, with only minimal subtitle reading? Check out Cave Of The Yellow Dog. It's brilliant.
Of the more recent studio fare, I can't recommend No Country For Old Men highly enough. I almost wish it hadn't won Best Picture, because it obviously was the best picture last year, and now I have to begrudgingly give the academy props for at least getting one thing right.
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