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"Juno"

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:34 pm
by Congruous
I kept hearing how good this was, so I went to see it the other day. I liked it. Without going into detail, it's about a young girl who, in the course of a pregnancy, figures out what parts of herself she needs to jettison and what parts she should cherish. The acting is very good. Juno is played by Ellen Page, who I have never seen before. She is perfect as the kind of cute, quirky girl most of us knew in high school. Jennifer Garner is in it as a woman who badly wants to be a mother. Allison Janney is also in it, and for you "Office" fans, Rainn Wilson does a funny bit as an obnoxious convenience store clerk.

There were two things I didn't like. The soundtrack just didn't work. There was a Kinks song in there, but mostly it was acoustic guitar songs that didn't really square with the movie's humorous, ironic tone, and the music was much too loud. The whole effect was jarring. And the dialogue at times came off as overripe, hip/grunge lingo. Someimes it was really laugh out loud funny, but too many times I found myself wondering if anyone really talks that way.

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:40 am
by sanspaper
More than a year later...
I agree about the dialogue. I could not stand Juno's constant sarcasm/hip lingo. I have never met a person in my life who speaks that way. It reminded me of playing the old adventure game "The Longest Journey": the main character is constantly making witty observations and it makes you want to eat her face (not that it isn't an amazing game in every other way, but I digress...).
I did, however, whole-heartedly agree with the musical score. I think it matches perfectly with the vulnerability and innocence of Juno and the way she approaches her preganancy.

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:54 pm
by Just Like Honey...
I loved Juno. The excessively biting dialogue from Juno herself is a little excessive, but the whole movie has sort of a feel to it that incorporates that, and the vulnerable soundtrack (which I agree could have been a little less invasive), pretty well. It's sort of a young, hipster (dare I say that word) movie.

To be honest, it makes me think a little of "Ghost World". Juno was the first time I had seen Michael Cera, and after some of the other stuff he's been in since, I have a little bit of trouble enjoying Juno as much. He was almost typecast by that role there for a little while.

Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman play the most disturbingly accurate, effusively self-loathing, love-to-hate yuppie couple I've ever seen. Their portrayal might be a little over the top but it was almost believable enough to make my skin crawl.

Either way, for a movie that was meant for (or at least marketed to) young people, Juno is a perfect example that fun movies can still approach sensitive issues with maturity and intelligence, and the movie is never afraid to use its head. It's very difficult to get BOTH sides of the abortion debate to fawn over your movie about abortion.

The ending scene of Juno is beautiful until you wake up to the slight cheesiness that it imparts. It still got me the first time I saw it though.




And for you old timers, yes, I'm still here lurking in the shadows, believe it or not.

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:29 am
by adrien950
I think Juno was a good film. The lingo was a bit too much at times, but all in all,great performances by the whole cast. The only thing I had seen Ellen Page in was Hard Candy(pretty decent film) and Micheal Cera in Superbad so I really didn't know too much about them, but they did great. The music went nicely with the film as well.


It's good to see I'm not the only one still lurking in the shadows.