Review

Review Date: 16-December-07
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Juno (2007)

"Juno" tells the story of a snarky 16-year-old named Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) who gets pregnant after one night with her geeky best friend (Michael Cera) and is forced to mature as the birth draws near. Supported by her quirky parents (J. K. Simmons, Allison Janney), she finds an outwardly perfect couple with two cars and a McMansion to adopt her child. But as she befriends the hipster husband of this couple (Jason Bateman), to the annoyance of his nervous and baby-hungry wife (Jennifer Garner), Juno discovers that perfect-looking marriages aren't necessarily perfect. This leads her to question what she wants out of life and her relationship with the baby's father.

Two people are basking in critical praise for this dramedy: Page, who announced herself in "Hard Candy" two years ago, and young, first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody. While I can't help admiring both of them to a degree, neither convinces me to like their movie. The problem lies in the delicate balance between comic eccentricity, chiefly evidenced in the language the characters use, and weighty seriousness, evidenced by the events that take place. Such a balance is a lofty goal for any writer, and I don't think it has been achieved here. Put simply, I do not believe in most of the people who populate "Juno." They are simultaneously too clever and too silly for credence, excepting the adoptive couple whose lines are relatively free of quips and slang to emphasize their mundane existence. This being the case, Page's competence at portraying Juno as a sharp-tongued and soul-wise teen is almost a deficiency. (Kind of like her lips, which are so perfect as to be distracting.) I can laugh at what she says and get teary at what she goes through, but I cannot take the next step and imagine her in the real world where her journey might have meaning. "Juno" is an ambitious undertaking which is not poorly executed but is not, for me, fully realized.

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.