Juno

“It started with a chair…”

So I finally saw it. And…I liked it, and I thought Ellen Page once again delivered. Excellent acting, although I think she was much better in Hard Candy, which, according to the director of Juno, earned her the leading role of Juno (I watched the DVD extras). Other notable roles would include Juno’s “destined to be an HVAC guy” father, J.K. Simmons (perhaps more famed for his role as J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief for the Daily Bugle in the Spider-Man films), and a surprisingly decent cameo by Jennifer Garner as the wannabe surrogate mom.

So this is what I thought: I think it’s fair to say that I liked the film. It was cute, and yes, cute would perhaps be the best word to describe Juno, since it wasn’t really a great (indie)film but merely cute flick. In my opinion Juno lacked the eminent teen dialogue. Jargons like “honest to blog?”, “Phuket, Thailand” or “pork swords”, are not as common as the movie makes it to be. Not common at all actually. Another thing that kind of threw me off was the vocabulary used by Juno. I understand that she was a bright kid for her age (16), yet if she was really that bright, then how come she got knocked up to begin with? Contradicting, I thought. And lastly, the ultimate nerd Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) did not seem to have anything in common with our protagonist Juno, other than their “band” of course. When Juno was witty, funny, and assertive (to say the least), then Bleeker was...just a nerd. Nothing more, nothing less. Make matters worse, I did not see any sparks or affection between the two teenagers. None at all. So how on earth am I supposed to believe that those two even hooked up?

I think Juno is a teen movie made for adults. Come on, I doubt anyone under the age of 21 would even understand the remark “ten-thousand leagues under the sea”. Clearly an adult cutesy flick with vocabulary for a mature audience.


* * * (three out of five) – recommended for adults, but not for kids. Decent and enjoyable, but nothing as spectacular as it was made up to be.


V.

Enjoyed Juno? Viira recommends: Thirteen, Hard Candy, Little Miss Sunshine.


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