2008 Woodie Awards
Independent movie lovers rejoice: Juno
Ben Brown-Steiner
Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: Entertainment
From the first song in the opening credits of Juno to the final duet by the protagonists, the soundtrack to Juno is simple, raw, and subtle. Similarly, the movie plot is simple, the writing is raw, and the performances are subtle. Juno, a high schooler, gets pregnant. She decides to give the baby away to a loving couple. Sounds simple enough, right? But the film gives us so much more than the simple plot implies. It takes great actors to subtly portray complicated feelings and heavy ideas, so we're all lucky that this film is filled with several great actors.
Front and foremost is 20 year old Ellen Page, who plays Juno MacGuff. She was able to carry the movie Hard Candy through its brash and disturbing content into the realm of believability, and she pulls it off again with what appears to be remarkable ease. She seems so natural as Juno that it seems like the role was meant to be played by her. Juno MacGuff is an ironic character. She is an unusually mature high schooler who attempts to embrace immaturity before people start expecting her to be mature. However, by making the immature error of getting pregnant with a friend, she finally can drop the facade of immaturity and mature into an adult. It is a complicated role that requires skillful acting.
Her performance is complemented by the other impressive actors in this film. Michael Cera, who plays Beeker, her soft spoken and gentle friend/partner, is a master of the awkward and sincere (think Arrested Development, Superbad and his impressive online show available at www.clarkeandmichael.com). Also, Jason Bateman makes a very believable husband who is sincere but slightly creepy and ultimately immature. Jennifer Garner is perfect as the neurotic wife who is desperate for happiness and a baby. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, who play Juno's father and stepmother, are masterful. Simmons conveys, through his eyes and emotions, the concern a father who loves his daughter but knows that he can no longer control her life. Instead, he pokes fun at her and shows her that he is her friend, as well as her father. When a very pregnant Juno comes home one night, he teases "Hey there, big puffy version of Junebug!"
For the first few minutes of the film, I did have my doubts. The characters talked in this strange slang which I don't think exists anywhere (or maybe I'm just turning into an old man already). These oddball one-liners included phrases like "Wizard" or "forshizz" or "yo yo yiggady yo" or "shut your freakin' gob!" or "honest to blog" (Thank you IMDB for the correct spelling on this newfangled slang). Rainn Wilson (a.k.a. Dwight from The Office) has a small but hilarious role as a wise-cracking grocery store clerk. As Juno shakes her third pregnancy test in frustration at his store, he helpfully chimes in: "That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet."
But while I was thinking about how old I felt and how this film was going to turn out to be a poor attempt to recreate the Napolean Dynamite vibe, the movie got really good, and my doubts faded away.
Juno is one of the cinema gems that makes all the others worthwhile. It gives me hope that those truly awful films (see The Wendell Baker Story) are not representative of the industry as a whole. It also has a good advertisements. If you have watched television at all in the past few weeks, you've probably caught the engaging and funny trailers. If you search on YouTube for Juno or go to the overloaded and laggy movie website (http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/), you'll find a series of short interviews and teasers that are clever and worthwhile, as well as a few samples of the soundtrack.
Front and foremost is 20 year old Ellen Page, who plays Juno MacGuff. She was able to carry the movie Hard Candy through its brash and disturbing content into the realm of believability, and she pulls it off again with what appears to be remarkable ease. She seems so natural as Juno that it seems like the role was meant to be played by her. Juno MacGuff is an ironic character. She is an unusually mature high schooler who attempts to embrace immaturity before people start expecting her to be mature. However, by making the immature error of getting pregnant with a friend, she finally can drop the facade of immaturity and mature into an adult. It is a complicated role that requires skillful acting.
Her performance is complemented by the other impressive actors in this film. Michael Cera, who plays Beeker, her soft spoken and gentle friend/partner, is a master of the awkward and sincere (think Arrested Development, Superbad and his impressive online show available at www.clarkeandmichael.com). Also, Jason Bateman makes a very believable husband who is sincere but slightly creepy and ultimately immature. Jennifer Garner is perfect as the neurotic wife who is desperate for happiness and a baby. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, who play Juno's father and stepmother, are masterful. Simmons conveys, through his eyes and emotions, the concern a father who loves his daughter but knows that he can no longer control her life. Instead, he pokes fun at her and shows her that he is her friend, as well as her father. When a very pregnant Juno comes home one night, he teases "Hey there, big puffy version of Junebug!"
For the first few minutes of the film, I did have my doubts. The characters talked in this strange slang which I don't think exists anywhere (or maybe I'm just turning into an old man already). These oddball one-liners included phrases like "Wizard" or "forshizz" or "yo yo yiggady yo" or "shut your freakin' gob!" or "honest to blog" (Thank you IMDB for the correct spelling on this newfangled slang). Rainn Wilson (a.k.a. Dwight from The Office) has a small but hilarious role as a wise-cracking grocery store clerk. As Juno shakes her third pregnancy test in frustration at his store, he helpfully chimes in: "That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet."
But while I was thinking about how old I felt and how this film was going to turn out to be a poor attempt to recreate the Napolean Dynamite vibe, the movie got really good, and my doubts faded away.
Juno is one of the cinema gems that makes all the others worthwhile. It gives me hope that those truly awful films (see The Wendell Baker Story) are not representative of the industry as a whole. It also has a good advertisements. If you have watched television at all in the past few weeks, you've probably caught the engaging and funny trailers. If you search on YouTube for Juno or go to the overloaded and laggy movie website (http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/), you'll find a series of short interviews and teasers that are clever and worthwhile, as well as a few samples of the soundtrack.
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patrick
posted 4/30/08 @ 12:29 PM EST
i was under the impression that Juno was directed by the same guy who directed Knocked Up because it's about an unexpected pregnancy, plus Michael Cera stars as Juno's boyfriend (he was one of the goofy kids from Superbad, a close relative of Knocked Up), but it turns out this is not the case
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