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Jason Reitman's next flick JUNO starring Ellen Page, Jason Bateman and Michael Cera screens!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I loved Jason Reitman's freshman effort, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING and his next flick, JUNO, has been something I've been following since it was first announced. Reitman's an exciting darkly comic voice in film right now and it looks like he's getting even better with this one. Thanks to Anant for the review! I can't wait to see this one for myself. Just to see Ellen Page, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, JK Simmons and Rainn Wilson in the same movie is enough to get me in the theater... Enjoy the review!!!
Harry,
I haven't seen anything from Copernicus about 'Juno' on the site, so I'm going to assume that he didn't get a chance to see it. While it would've been a treat reading his review for it, here's mine if you guys are interested in this lovely little movie that Fox Searchlight is pegging as their Oscar Indie hopeful of the year.
'Juno' premiered at the Ryerson Theater in downtown Toronto with a crowd packed with Jason Reitman fans (or perhaps they were fans of Ellen Page...or of Michael Cera....or of Jason Bateman....or of Allison Janney....or JK Simmons. I really couldn't tell!) That the movie would exceed their expectations was a foregone conclusion and it only added to the overall excitement as I sat down with a group of rowdy frat boys to my left and a middle aged couple to my right. Obviously 'Superbad' was the common element to this audience...right?
'Juno' is about a precocious 16-year old named Juno MacGuff and her tiny little problem (the MacGuffin if you will...ahem!) that begins, as she puts it in the opening scene, with a chair. And now she's had her weight in Sunny D so that she can pee the third time to confirm that she is in fact pregnant, which she is. So what does she do about this little problem? Well, that's what the movie is about, and I'll just leave it at that. While I wouldn't be giving away anything significant, this movie is best enjoyed with absolutely zero knowledge of its plot and its wonderfully realized characters.
The two aspects of this film that stand out immediately are the script and Ellen Page. Written by Diablo Cody (a.k.a Brooke Busey-Hunt, of Pussy Ranch blog fame as Wikipedia helpfully tells me) this is one of the smartest to come out in a very long time. The dialogue is a delicate mix of teenage slang and wonderfully absurd and erudite vocabulary. It's the kind that actors probably dream of delivering and they do a marvelous job with the material, every last one of them. Including Garner! heh...
Ellen Page is a complete revelation in this film. As scarily talented as she is, her performance in 'Juno' is without precedent in her short career. Not even 'Hard Candy' could've prepared us for what she delivers here, and that was a bloody hard act to follow for any actor. If the Oscars are a barometer for success, then she deserves some recognition for 'Juno'. Awards or not, she's fucking fabulous in this!
The rest of the cast is positively brilliant! The Bluth boys are awesome as always, and JK Simmons and Allison Janney are fucking hilarious. Much like 'Arrested Development', the humour is fast, furious and all verbal. You laugh so hard that you miss the next joke which is delivered in the same breath as the one you're howling at to begin with. As funny as the movie is, it is also extremely touching and sensitive in its portrayal of the characters and the situation they're in.
Fox Searchlight is obviously feeling good about the movie as they've positioned it for a Dec 14 release. I would've personally liked to have seen this release in the next month and have it grow through word of mouth and then embrace the Oscar season, but I'm sure it'll do well regardless of when it's released.
As Diablo Cody said during the Q&A "hey, somebody's asking me a question! Alright, my time to shine!!".
And so will 'JUNO'.
If you use this,
Anant
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WoO!
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third
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and trust in jesus christ as your savior.
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Seriously. Ellen Page is really great, and super cute to boot. Sounds like a winner.
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and it more or less deserves it. A very good movie, and I guess Reitman is getting Oscar buzz already. I managed to get autographs from Bateman and Cera afterwards and they couldn't have been nicer. Keep an eye out for this one in December, as it is certainly worth your time.
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I can't believe the same loveable frog who made Ghostbusters also made My Super-Ex Girl Friend.
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this is honestly the thickest, greenest plant i've ever seen on this website. "the rest of the cast is positively brilliant!"; you'll laugh so hard that you'll laugh over the other fucking joke? brilliant?
i honestly do have high hopes for this movie, it looks promising. but if the studio thinks i'm dumb enough to fall for this, i'm a bit disappointed. -
I hope there's a scene where Ellen Page pretends to cut off Jason Bateman's balls, because that should be in every film like Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box.
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In the movie, there's a running gag where Juno's high school track team (of which Cera's character is a member) goes jogging past during poignant moments. Well, Fox Searchlight decided to pay a local track team to spend the hour before the movie's premier jogging past the lineup outside. The audience howled with recognition when the team went jogging by on screen.
It was a great night -- and great to see that instead of bleeding a script dry of whatever made it unique, hollywood got it right this time. Cody's script is hilarious. This is the female "Rushmore". Or "Napoleon Dynamite". Or its own crazy-ass thing.
Also great in the fest? Lars and the Real Girl. Ryan Gosling can not pick a bad role. -
Makes Little Miss Sunshine look like the formulaic quirkfest it is.
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Yup. If you're reading this, Diablo, I totally respect you for your brain, too. ;)
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Sep 12, 2007 10:27:10 AM CDT
Humor from Arrested Development was NOT all dialogue
by quin the eskimo
There was a ton of gags and slapstick.
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That was a film that was totally over-praised. If this is getting favourable comparisons to Rushmore then I am right there.
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True, there was a lot of comedy, but the dialogue is what set it apart from the run-o-th-mill. I prefer clever dialogue to slapstick. I guess it's kinda like a litmus test of comdey: either you like George Costanza or Kosmo Kramer. Kramer may have elicited more laughs on first view, but George's lines remain gut-bustable long after the physical gags lose their charm.
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still a great review with no spoilers, I'm definitely seeing this...and agreed, I wish it was coming out sooner. Also, Gob's magician dance still cracks me up just thinking about it. I don't know, I guess that was just me. God I miss that show.
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