2007 comedy Rating: 12/20 (Jen: 18/20)
Plot: Michael Cera is at it again, running around like a perverse sex fiend and impregnating our little girls. He's knocked up the title character, an eccentric and free-thinking sixteen year old. This development looks like it could ruin her life, a life spent mostly hanging out with Michael Cera and her annoying best friend who (plot hole!) for some reason nobody kills by the end of the movie. Juno eventually decides to give the baby up for adoption and finds a suitable wealthy couple. She becomes attached to the prospective adoptive father who, like her, enjoys horror movies and music. Then she gets bigger and bigger and bigger and tries to sort out her emotions about Michael Cena, parenting, the adoptive parents, and love. Meanwhile, Michael Cena runs around looking for another little girl's life to ruin.
Well, this was cutesy. Cutesy dialogue, cutesy Juno, cutesy Jason Bateman, cutesy soundtrack. The script sort of zings along as if the characters had been practicing it for months. The characters are mostly easy enough to like, even the character who is supposed to be the bad one. The story is a bit too predictable and the story-telling too traditional, but this Judd Apatow clone actually works better than Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up. Probably because the human, more mature side (the "soul" part) doesn't seem forced. This didn't seem realistic to me, and I should know since I was once a sixteen year old who was impregnated by Michael Cera. Although I did like a lot of the individual songs (Moldy Peaches, Bowie, Kinks, Belle and Sebastian, lots by the female half of the Moldy Peaches), I got tired of the pattern of dialogue, loud cutesy song, more dialogue, loud cutesy song, more dialogue, loud cutesy song, etc.
I can't wait for that Arrested Development movie.
I took this picture with my feet!
4 comments:
"I'm gonna punch that Bleaker kid in the weiner next time I see him" -- funny, right?
I guess so.
I laughed a few times during 'Juno', but it was really only to show my wife that I got the jokes. She's a bully and makes fun of me relentlessly when I don't appear to understand something.
I could almost see Diablo Cody sweating like a pig while trying to write the hippest, cutest dialogue possible and I can understand a person rebelling against this movie, but I thought it was great. I didn't think it was ever predictable in any way, and all of the actors are great, especially Page and Cera. A 17.
I definitely seem to be in the minority with this one. Even my brother really liked it, and he doesn't like much of anything.
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