Juno (2007)

Director: Jason Reitman
Story: Diablo Cody
Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner
Music: Mateo Messina
Time: 96 minutes
Bottom-line: A story that is so natural, so realistic, that it hardly feels like a movie 

One film where the story, acting, dialogues and almost everything in it seems like they were shot and made without the knowledge of the cast and (most of the) crew, Juno is a film where you feel that the story is really happening. Starring Ellen Page and Michael Cera in the leads, this film is the story of how a sixteen year old girl accidentally gets pregnant, and how it affects her life. Other than winning the Academy Award for the Best Screenplay, another achievement of the film is that its soundtrack topped the charts; the first film to do so of 20th Century Fox after Titanic.

Ellen Page as Juno

Juno MacGuff (Page), a 16-year-old girl, discovers that she is pregnant, with the future father being her boyfriend Paulie Bleeker (Cera). Her first thought is that of abortion, but she sees her friend fighting against abortion and she gets angry when people accuse her of being ‘sexually active’. All these make her decide to deliver the baby after all, but hand it over to adoptive parents. Juno and her friend Leah find an adoptive couple: Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Garner), whom Juno likes. So, they agree for a closed adoption. What happens in the next few months of Juno’s life forms the story.

Michael Cera as Paulie

The story is fast-paced, but bit vulgar in the beginning. However, after that, Juno is a fun-filled ride, with plenty of jokes and other elements of a drama film. The dialogues are so free-flowing that I think Cody and Reitman must have said, “Speak whatever you feel like, as long as it is according to the situation,” to the actors. Page, Cera, Garner and all others speak dialogues that you and I speak everyday: using all slangs, colloquial terms etc. (and so the dialogues are also a bit vulgar). The story mainly deals with teenage pregnancy. Usually we hear about stuff related to this issue, but we just ignore them, mainly because we think that no such thing will happen. After seeing this film, you will get to know how it actually is, and then you will really go against teenage pregnancy. Reitman also uses different settings to show autumn, winter, spring and summer, possibly to show the nine-month period of pregnancy of Juno.  

Garner as Vanessa (left), Bateman as Mark (centre), and
Ellen Page

The film also tells about what real love should be like, how obsession with something can lead to hurting others' feelings and how a woman feels when she knows she is going to become a mother and other related themes.

The acting of all the actors is again, natural. The dialogues, facial expressions and even the characters are all like that of normal people like us. Page has done a splendid job, and Wikipedia says that as soon as Reitman saw the script, he pictured Page for Juno’s character (I think because she looks exactly like a sixteen-year-old!). She portrays the various emotions quite well, and her acting perfectly matches the reactions and behaviour of any normal sixteen year old girl with the same condition, in my view. Cera and Jennifer Garner have acted superbly too. Page was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress for this performance.

The opening sequence of Juno, with animated backgrounds
and Juno walking with an orange juice can.

The background music mainly consists of several songs, most of which were sung by Kimya Dawson. The songs have a fast tempo and the lyrics are also good. The song All I want is You is played during the opening credits, and the scenes shown here are impressive. Juno walks around the town, drinking a can of orange juice, and the scenes are sort of animated: the background images are in 2D, with Juno walking ahead. During the song before the ending, Anyone Else but You, the camera slowly goes farther and farther away for two minutes or so (while the song lasts) before cutting to black, and I liked this bit of camerawork.

To conclude, Jason Reitman’s Juno is an enjoyable film, but is not for children. Diablo Cody’s Oscar-winning script is brilliant, providing the right amount of comedy without disturbing the main theme. The way in which the film shows a serious issue – that of teenage pregnancy – is excellent: it doesn’t make the film too boring, does not contain too much of adult content, but rather delivers the message in an interesting and entertaining way. Scintillating acting performances, funny and other ‘natural’ dialogues, and a fast-moving story are the other positive aspects of the film. As long as you over 13 years old, the film is a joy-ride. Must-watch!

My Rating: 3.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%