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Capone Feels Good About JUNO!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
As a preface to this review, I have to tell a little story. About a month ago I was fortunate to sit down and interview the star of this magnificent, funny, touching splendor of a movie, Ellen Page, and the film's writer, Diablo Cody, who is not only guaranteed an Oscar nomination—she seems pretty certain to win it. We talked at length about Ellen's rising career and Diablo's path from famous blogger to autobiographer to screenwriter. We talked about her next screenplay, a female-centric horror film set to be produced by JUNO director Jason Reitman, and all sorts of fun details and insight about JUNO itself.
Sadly, you will never read that interview because while I and a couple hundred of my nearest and dearest friends sat in the new Alamo Drafthouse Ritz Theatre last weekend for Butt Numb-a-Thon 9, someone broke into the car holding my luggage and swiped not only my laptop but also the tape of the interview. I'd brought both to Austin, hoping to catch up on a little work during my downtime in the days leading up to BNAT, and I'd even started transcribing this interview. As you may have read back in August, this hasn't been my greatest year as far as property loss goes; this incident was the capper. But interview or not (and trust me, there are dozens of fine interviews floating around with Cody and Page), JUNO is simply one of the most charming and relevant films of the year, and it arises from one the finest screenplays in a very long time.
JUNO is one of those movies you like almost instantly, and if you don't, you will after about 10 minutes. There's a rhythm and a cadence to the dialog and the flow of the plot that somehow manages to feel both organic and unlike anything in the natural world. Diablo Cody's screenplay is loaded with what a lot of people are calling "hipster" speak, but the fact is most changes or additions to pop culture and the English language are borne out of teen culture. There are times during the film where I felt Cody was making slight but necessary (to tell her story) adjustments to the English language. This story of a high school girl named Juno (Ellen Page of HARD CANDY and X-MEN 3) who gets pregnant and decides to give her baby away for adoption has the makings of a heartwarming cautionary tale, and that's certainly part of the proceedings. But JUNO is more concerned with creating rich, likeable characters who add layer upon layer of fascinating depth to this film.
There are no villains here (fellow students glaring at the pregnant Juno are about as bad as things get), which doesn't mean that our heroine escapes a few stern but loving lectures about responsibility from her father (the unflappable J.K. Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney, in a role that should make every screenwriter rethink the evil stepmom cliché). After she gets pregnant after a one-night-stand with her best friend Paulie Bleeker (SUPERBAD’s Michael Cera), Juno first considers abortion. In what might be the funniest scene ever set in an abortion clinic, that idea goes out the window in favor of adoption. After skimming the Penny Saver ads, Juno and her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) locate a nice suburban couple (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) who cannot have children. Their first meeting is painfully awkward, and Cody makes it clear which of the two would-be parents we're supposed to like more. But what might surprise you is the sophistication the story has as our loyalties to certain characters shift along with Juno, who becomes unlikely friends with Bateman's character, Mark, a commercial jingle writer who wants to be a rock star and watch horror movies all day. Garner's uptight Vanessa clearly wants this child more than Mark, but we feel strongly they'll both make great parents.
If ever there was the perfect blending of actor and screenplay, Page breathes life into her character in a way that will instantly make you feel she's playing herself, including the way she deals with the quirky Paulie, who is clearly in love with her but lacks the personality to deal with her mood swings or his own feelings. Always having Paulie dressed in baggy yellow track shorts and a headband makes him seem like a nerd, but the truth is that he's just a slightly nervous and extremely sweet kid. Juno's cynicism and wiser-than-her-years attitude and delivery may put some people off, but I have a hard time understanding that. She's aware that she's different, and it sometimes troubles her. When she's first telling her parents about her pregnancy, she admits she doesn't know what kind of kid she is yet. It's a rare moment when her guard is down and she's not searching for the next clever thing to say, and it's the first of what turns into many warm and touching moments in JUNO.
Director Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) adds some nice visual touches to JUNO, borrowing ever so slightly from the straightforward camera angles of Wes Anderson. But what he wisely does is not to let the filmmaking interfere with this perfect script. He concentrates on the performances, which are all absolutely flawless. When I look back at all of the films I saw in 2007, I can't think of a better collection of actors synching up so effortlessly with the screenplay. Nearly every actor is required to be both funny and emotionally vulnerable in some truly tough scenes, especially a few near the end, and everybody nails it. The person who truly shocked me was Jennifer Garner, whose character seems, at first, to be the most one-dimensional. She keeps an immaculate home, always dresses pretty, has perfect skin, puts down her husband's need to rock and is driven to over-prepare for this child. We're never meant to hate her, but we understand she's the square to Bateman's cool-guy, who watches gory Herschell Gordon Lewis horror films and listens to Sonic Youth. All I'll say is don't get too attached to your preconceptions about anyone in this film.
JUNO is such a good film that it makes you mad at other films for not trying as hard to be this spectacular. And it's one of those rare films that can't be oversold or over hyped. I'd been hearing about JUNO for quite a while before I finally saw it, and I'd convinced myself it couldn't be as good as everyone said. It's better. And if you're one of those people who resists seeing a movie because everybody says it's soooo good, then a) you're an idiot, and b) in this case, this rumors are true. You'll walk out of JUNO feeling better about yourself for having seen it and better about the world for allowing a film like this to get made.
Capone
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then comes a baby in Ellen Page's tight, sexy little bod.
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But since I live in the middle of nowhere, looks like I will be waiting for DVD...again.
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or its low-budget alternative, Juno vs. Hunter.
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more i hear about this movie, the more I actually think its going to be good. Like really good, not Little Miss Sunshine yeah its fun and all but it would be really lame if I watched it a second time around. Plus after my disbeilf that Superbad would suck. I am willing to turn the other cheek and see this movie in theaters. I am just tired of little miss sunshine comparisons, and how people act like its some hip thing to know/see this movie? I just can't wait to hear from people that know nothing about movies though tell me how this was the best movie they ever saw since Little Miss Sunshine and Garden State before that.
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Dec 14, 2007 12:05:11 PM CST
LOVED Juno. Thought Little Miss Sunshine was overrated
by shiftyeyeddog2
LMS wasnt bad. It was just okay. Not the great film everyone seems to think it was. I liked Carrell and Kinnear, but frankly the titular character, Abigail Breslin, made me not like the flick. JUNO, on the other hand, DESERVES all its hype.
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You can quote me.
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That really sucks.
This movie looks good to me. I'll check it out.
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I think that's one of the biggest faults in movies. Cute/Quirky girls who are "interesting" not because of what they say, but because of what they like. Juno lost a whole lot of points for me when the screenwriter had to drag out the whole "Oh, she likes old music! Look at her be interesting and 'weird!'" shebang to force a relatability between her and Bateman's character. Juno already was interesting, she didn't need a quirky musical preference to make her cool. AGH!
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Little Miss Sunshine was the far better film.
Juno has plenty of snappy dialogue and some great performances, but the script becomes trite near the end. It thinks it's alot sweeter than it actually is.
All this talk over it is kinda baffling to me. It's a good film, but it's not even close to great. -
Christian conservatives would have buried this film.
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and I repeat, Diablo Cody will get nominated for original screenplay.
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just like Planned Parenthood had a fit about Bella?I mean how dare they show a scene where a woman is on the abortion talbe and changes her mind, I mena reallyyeah I just love a liberal double standardand on subject Juno looks really sweet and fun, I'll be checking it outa strange but approite double feature for this posisbly, Meet the Robinsons and Juno?
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Juno has one of the sweetest, most romantic endings I've ever seen. It was actually my favorite film of this year, until I saw 'Once' a couple of days ago, which is one of the sweetest, most romantic FILMS I've ever seen.If you agree meet me on Netflix! topaz420 at gmail dot com.
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Seriously. Cody, Reitman, and Page are hereby on the one-to-watch list. And I've read Cody's next script and it's got enough coins of phrase to rewrite teen vocabulary as we know it. I'm talking terminology like "lesbigay," "freaktarded," and best of all "cum-dumpster." Oh, and it's going to be one of the most fucked-up films of all time. Not nearly as good as Juno, but with a lot more viscera.
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But she lacks maturity at this point, snappy dialogue or no.
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sorry to bust your bubble, but she's not coingin any phrases there. not sure about freaktarded, but ive definitely heard lesbigay and cumdumpster used before.
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WHEN wil aicn join the rest of the internet in including an "edit post" function on their message board?!?
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Fair enough; I've been out of high school for a while so I don't know as well how people that age are talking. It's still a really entertaining script.
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Lacks maturity? Her script would have won equal praise if it'd been co-written by Wes Anderson, Buck Henry, and Ruth Prawer-fucking-Jhabvala. That's precisely what's so great about it; you don't need any "Gosh, it's really good for a first-timer"-type disclaimers to enjoy it (Zach Braff, I'm looking sharply in your direction as I say that). I am not one to praise screenwriters lightly. When people were pissing themselves over Don Roos in the 90s, I didn't get it. But Diablo Cody is the real deal.
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Me and my girlfriend saw it last week totally thinking like everyone else does that this move is awesome. It's seriously just hype.
Don't get me wrong, the people of the world who like to fall in with a fad or think that Gilmore Girl dialogue is the 'awesome' will enjoy this. But for us, after the 'Dwight Shcrute' scene, the movie lost all credibility. This movie is not 'hip', it was made to look hip. And people are buying it.
The girl (who is supposed to be bright and odd, I *get* that) behaves and speaks in the fashion of a 35yo not like any 16yo I ever knew. Cultural reference that are waaaay beyond her but speak to the 30 somethings who are in love with this move get all the cheers. Seriously folks, a 16yo who's commenting on the 'sparkling high notes' of a perfume as a wine reference? The people in the audience who cackled most for that line were the well to do landed gentry.
And please, the throw away character of Su Chin? Could you you have more of a racist throw away just to give Juno something to think about?
I loved Little Miss Sunshine, Super Bad rocked. I am a big fan of the off kilter movies and was a frequent Draft House person when I still lived in Austin. That gives you some idea of where I'm coming from. But I think looking back a year or two from now, a lot of the hype-lords are going to be a bit awkwardly ashamed with how much they drolled over this movie. It is well made, and has some good characterizations, but a week after seeing it my girlfriend and I still can't shake off how unenjoyable it was. -
I need a Midol take on. She's obviously a slacker.
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I forgot this movie was directed by the Cigarette movie/son of famous director guy. This seems to be getting similar if not more hype then Thank You, and that movie while enjoyable was nothing shit your pants amazing.
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especially in the beginning. And it grates because I had an audience that insisted on laughing loudly at every single thing. It's okay to laugh on the inside, people. It took me about 20 minutes to stop giving it my own stink-eye. But after the dialog calmed down it was a very cute movie. Pretty much equivalent to 'Little Miss Sunshine' in quality. So it's very good, not great, imo. But woe to them who doth not put Michael and George Michael Bluth together in a scene. And I hated the opening credits sequence. But otherwise it was good. Garner deserves the praise she's getting but I'm not too sure that Page as Juno was that different from the chick in Hard Candy.
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i didnt mean to imply it wouldnt be good. I loved Juno, and expect her next will be good as well. I was just mentioning i had heard those terms. Sadly, I too have been out of high school far longer than i care to think about, so i dont know exactly where id heard them, internet or movies, im sure.
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heh heh. Or should be.
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I mean, look at the trailer. Plus it has that little boy from Hard Candy in it.
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that is UNFORGIVABLE and UNACCEPTABLE. at least michael mann put de niro and pacino in a couple of scenes together in 'heat' to give the people what they wanted. i call tewtal bullshit on this!!
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but there is a nice little gizmo called an 'external hard drive' that is generated especially for people who want to keep extra copies of things they might make on their computer. take it from somebody who has lost their workload not once, but twice; sooner or later you learn than the $125 for a western digital from newegg is worth every little red cent, and you keep it somewhere your computer is not. felicitades, my friend!
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pure movie perfection, finally fuck yes! it gave me the feeling mad men gives me every week.
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It could happen.
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Can't always trust giddy reviews here, but this movie is as terrific as advertised, confirmed on RT - 94%/100% Fresh. There's a scene with Cera in the trailers where Juno asks him if she still looks cute and he says, "You look beautiful. I always think you're beautiful." Although Juno blows it off, you see a glint that no one has ever told her that before and it touches her. Very subtle stuff. Her appeal is similar to the hip/flip Kristen Bell in VERONICA MARS. Another strong female role, but underneath that confident armor and sass hides a girly poignant vulnerability. (If only Raimi had found someone like these two to play MJ. Sigh.) Interesting that Bell is 27 but can play 19, while Page is 20 and can play 13. Bell plays Elle, Page IS Elle. .....Before guys start drooling over Ms. Page (to you) however, she's a committed feminist in real life who threatened to castrate Patrick Wilson in HARD CANDY, adores hairy armpit (but not gay) Patti Smith, loves the movie MY SUMMER OF LOVE about a teen Lebanese romance, acted in X3 which has a bit of a gay or at least mutant following, acted in MARION BRIDGE that had a bent subplot, and could do anything she wants now and chooses JACK & DIANE, "two teenage lesbians, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously" (IMDB), while one turns into a werewolf (honest to goth!). Loves to go camping (think LLBean). Short hair. Canadian. And what beautiful starlet isn't shagging some hunky co-star at 20? Celibacy isn't exactly epidemic in HW. Ya can't hardly help tripping over dem clues bro', but southpaw or not, I still like her. Some folks, certainement pas je, might even find her coming foray into softcore teenage lesbian horror porn something to look forward to.......... Okay! Summer 2008.
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And yes. This flick's good. Any movie to make a scene around a H.G. Lewis movie and later have the lead actress scream "Thundercats are Go!" is a keeper. I'm sorry it flies in the face of your coolness to like a "sweet" movie.
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Hell even hipsters don't talk like cinematic hipsters. It's simply too precious and clever.
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Because I won't be able to relate to the characters because they're all white and skinny.
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I hope Ellen Page wins the best actress Oscar this year, so she can go into the post Oscar slump and disappear. I think that would be a good thing for all of us.
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and kevin smith refers to geraldo rivera's moustache as a "cum-catcher". this per his smodcast podcast.
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Soon she will learn to appreciate me. :licks her face:
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I really enjoyed this film, great review. It felt very true to life and really did a fair job of capturing the way human beings actually talk to one another (a rare thing in film today). It will definitely be interesting to see what Cody and Reitman can create for 'Jennifer's Body'.
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