Movie Review: Juno (2007, Jason Rietman)

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Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Therby
Screenplay: Diablo Cody
96 minutes / Color

The themes of the teen-pregnancy flick “Juno” might come as a surprise at first, but as the movie goes on, you won’t find it only a comedy, but a film that brings truths and honest-feelings to the screen with a touch of humor. Amongst the deliciously amusing cast of veterans and new comers, we are graced with the might screen presence of Ellen Page in the title role and Jennifer Garner as an lonely woman seeking for the someone to take care off. With a touch of class and a fine script by Ms. Diablo Cody, “Juno” enthralls and easily becomes one of the best of 2007.

Opening with out main character Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) taking a pregnancy test after having sex with her “best friend” Polly Bleaker (Michael Cera) on her immortal “couch”, Juno is about to experience the most important, life-changing 9 months of her entire life.

After a difficult confrontation with her parents (Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons), Juno then looks for a couple that would take her baby in after she gives birth. Luckily, she finds a “happy”, rich and successful couple, Mark and Vanessa Lorring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), who sign the adoption papers and will pay for all medical expenses till Juno gives birth.

As the months go by, Juno goes through her difficult high school life not only experience a lot of rumors and talks about her, but she faces problems regarding Prom, going out with her friends, going to the doctors, eating habits and her lifestyle reaches a complete shift of what it was before.

With hardly any friends in school now, Juno tries to get close to Mark. Mark isn’t the soul-bread winger of the Lorring household. He just stays home, plays guitar, watches horror movies, listens to rock songs and tries to compose music, while his wife Vanessa works her butt off for the both of them.

Juno and Mark become the best of friends, but his relationship with his wife Vanessa declines with not only annoyance towards each other, but bitter feelings rise to the highest degree. Mark then ruins all the plans, when he then files for divorce…

However, even though Juno completely doesn’t support broken families (from her own personal experience), she continues with the adoption to Vanessa, knowing that she (after a brief encounter in a play-pen in a local mall) was born to be a mother. “Juno” ends in a bittersweet ballad, as Juno gives her baby to Vanessa and she resolves her problems with Polly.

Clearly, as I said earlier, “Juno” was not only a deserving Best Original Screenplay winner, but probably the best movie out of the 5 Best Picture nominees. The film had everything going for it, great direction by Jason Rietman, the screenplay (as I said before) and strong-ass performances.

Ellen Page was, as Juno would say, “friggin’ awesome”. It’s incredible an actress this young could pull off such an emotional and sentimental performance without a flaw to it. Yes you heard me, without an utter flaw. She has just delivered us one of the best comedic performances ever seen on the silver screen and she can support that with her rightfully deserved Oscar nomination. How thankful I am that this performance wasn’t snubbed or ignored. It was so bloody brilliant and wicked cool. High, never-ending praise to her.

Another brilliant performance was that of Jennifer Garners. Finally a project where she didn’t look like an idiot or a man! She was perfect as the supporting player of Ellen Page. At first, you hate her character. But at the end, your whole mood towards her changes. Yes, the screenplay helps a lot, but in my opinion, she was the only one who could have pulled this performance off.

I’m also really proud of Jason Rietman and Diablo Cody though. Imagine, Cody, was an ex-stripper and she wrote something this brilliant. I’m not saying that being a stripper means you aren’t educated, but man, she sure had some hidden talents (and NO I do not mean that in a sexual way). Her screenplay was bright, touching and full of jokes people could actually appreciate. None of that stupid sexual or toilet humor…

Jason Rietman is one talented directors for the comedy genre today. 2006’s “Thank You for Smoking” was a joy to watch, but “Juno” is the one that brings out his true visionary talents. Every shot and every frame is pure brilliance. It’s such a shame that this year’s directional pallet is so strong. He would’ve been in my list of the absolute best. I can’t wait to see his next projects…

To wrap it up, I’ve just got to say that I really, really enjoyed the movie. I’m glad they kept it the way it was: an indie movie. I have a feeling if this was a big, huge-budgeted motion picture, they would not have captured the same brilliance. Two thumbs up!