I first saw JUNO at a film festival, but since then I've seen it another two times thanks to Fox Searchlight inexplicably deciding to send me tons of their screeners in preparation for the Austin Film Critics Association having their year end vote. The flick holds up and I've found it just as funny and Ellen Page just as adorable as I did the first time.
This will be in my top 10 of the year, without a doubt. We'll see how high up it ranks after seeing the last month of flicks. Anyway, we got a review in from a reader who also got a chance to check out the flick. Did he love it as much as I did? You be the judge:
Hello Harry, Moriarty and Capone,
Here is a review of the excellent new film "Juno." Hope you can use it on the site. In case you were wondering, "Arrested Development" alums Michael Cera and Jason Bateman share no scenes together.
On with the review:
Writer Diablo Cody (Brook Busey-Hunt) is generating plenty of buzz with the adaptation of her first screenplay, "Juno." Mz. Cody has a colorful past and has written a colorful screenplay, which has some calling her 'The Next Tarantino.' High praise indeed.
And not altogether unwarranted, as "Juno" is crass, funny, serious, and heartwarming, sometimes all in the same scene. The plot revolves around sixteen year old Juno MacGuff (Page, in a star-making role) who finds herself with child after hooking up with her best pal, Paulie Bleeker. (Cera, doing the 'who, me?' face he does so well.)
After weighing her options, Juno decides to give her child up for adoption, provided she can find parents she approves of. Nobody too square, of course. Juno is an post-grunge indie-minded young lass, in love with the Sex Pistols, but completely unaware of The Melvins.
Thanks to a classified ad (Hey! Give us your kid!) Juno finds Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), and deems them hep enough to take her offspring for their own.
Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons are pitch perfect as Juno's somewhat understanding parents, and Jennifer Garner takes a role that some would have played as a wicked witch and makes her character much more human. But besides the title character, Jason Bateman PWNS this film. The script is cute and winks at the audience with hip lines, but halfway though the tone spins on a dime, and Bateman nails it.
I'm happy to see Jason get more work these days. He's taking some real chances with the parts he takes, and he's usually the best part of the film he appears in, whether it's "The Kingdom" or "Smokin' Aces."
Ellen Page is one to watch, make no mistake. From her terrifying performance in the uneven "Hard Candy," to proving she could hang with SFX in "X-Men: The Last Stand," Page has been mesmerizing on screen. I wouldn't be surprised if she were nominated for an Academy Award for her work in "Juno," as she makes the title character live and breathe.
Director Jason Reitman has chosen a sort of Wes Anderson world in which to set these characters, and that's undoubtedly a big reason why this film works. Reitman's last project, "Thank You For Smoking" was excellent as well, so now he's two for two. I'm sure it makes daddy Ivan proud.
The final scene, featuring a s l o w pullback of our main characters as they sing "Anyone Else But You" by The Moldy Peaches, is just brilliant.
So is screenwriter Diablo Cody the next big force in filmmaking? The new Tarantino? It's simply too early to tell. Her script sounds more to me like "Heathers" era Daniel Waters anyway. (That's not a bad thing.)
"Juno" may be a bit too rough-and-tumble for some moviegoers who aren't used to seeing teens act the way they do in real life (some teens, I should say), but if you are or ever have considered yourself a misfit, then you'll feel right at home.
Check out my other reviews here!
Thanks,
Maxamillion
