Juno
a review by Jeffrey Overstreet
[An abridged edition of this review will appear in the next issue of Risen.]
Knocked Up, Waitress, Bella, and the internationally celebrated “masterpiece” 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days‚Ķ yes, 2007 is officially The Year of the Unexpected Pregnancy.
And now, here comes Juno, a comedy about a sixteen-year-old girl whose hormones have led her straight into pregnancy and a world of tough new realities.
What’s going on? Is Juno just another movie in this unlikely trend?
Not hardly. Juno is a charming, hilarious picture, nine-months pregnant with personality, from first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, whose Thank You for Smoking proved that he had inherited his father Ivan’s knack for moviemaking.
Fueled by a knockout lead performance by Ellen Page (who is easily the best thing to emerge from that¬†catastrophe called X-Men 3: The¬†Final Stand), an award-worthy supporting¬†turn by Jennifer Garner,¬†and a cast of strong personalities, it’s this year’s “Little Movie That Could.”
It seems to be a simple story, at first.
Juno MacGuff’s a smart-talking high schooler whose personality is bigger than her pregnant belly. Her relentlessly witty commentary on her own life, her family, and her peers reveals that she has a razor-sharp intellect, an encyclopediac memory for pop-culture references, a preference for brash honesty over politeness, and a creative embrace of her culture’s crass vernacular.
But her personality is also a smokescreen, a way of entertaining people and shielding them from seeing her fears and her disappointments. The more time we spend with her, the more we discover that her moments of silence are the most revealing moments of all. Beyond the humorous¬†asides and the passion for punk rock, she’s profoundly troubled by the broken state of her relationships and the relationships all around her. She has a lot to learn about adulthood, but when it comes to the importance of staying together, Juno sees some things so much more clearly than most adults.
And she’s learning as she goes. She doesn’t seem to think much about the cause of her pregnancy, and neither do the filmmakers. The movie tiptoes around the subject of teen sex. It basically asserts that “this is what teens do, and we’ll just have to deal with it.” The aftermath of Juno’s rather spontaneous and ill-advised sexual experimention with her friend Paulie (Michael Cera) gives the movie plenty of story to tell. But it’s unfortunate that the film’s glowing, nostalgic portrayal of Paulie and Juno’s liaison could inspire many more such liaisons among its younger viewers.
Still, there is so much wisdom in the storytelling beyond that opening chapter that the film stands out as a refreshingly honest and redeeming work.
Not since Flirting have we seen such a delicate portrayal of young love. Juno’s not sure how she feels about Paulie, a softspoken track star who’s as stunned and sobered by the consequences of his error as anybody. But the progress of their relationship is portrayed with remarkable subtlety and tenderness.
The awakening of Juno’s conscience regarding whether or not to keep her baby… that too is beautifully illustrated. (Have fingernails ever played such important role in a movie before?)
But it’s Juno’s search for the ideal family to adopt her little “sea monkey” that takes this movie into surprisingly deep water. Juno finds Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, perfectly cast), who seem cool enough. But the more she spends time with them, the more she — and the audience — begin to wonder if the Lorings really have what it takes to be parents… or spouses, for that matter. And thus the film ends up exploring questions much larger than “Who’s going to help this lonely, pregnant high schooler?” It becomes a story about faithfulness, maturity, and trust.
And so, as the countdown to delivery day begins, we watch Juno wrestle with the realities of being huge, scorned, and committed to surrendering her baby. We watch her family cope with her pregnancy and learn to support her. And we watch the Lorings’ relationship tested as the reality of pending parenthood hits home.
This all sounds pretty heavy. Fortunately, Page’s feisty line delivery and hipster cool are irresistible.¬†And Cody’s smart dialogue invests Juno with such a volatile spontanaeity that every scene seem fresh and unpredictable.
In fact, sometimes the words she puts in Juno’s mouth, amplified by Page’s idiosyncratic performance, come off as just a little too smart. The more time we spend with this girl, the more implausible she seems. Juno’s a firecracker, no doubt about it — but she’s such a firecracker that sparks and pops and never quits, so that the rest of the fireworks just kind of stand around and watch, only sparking occasionally themselves. Juno’s personality dominates the movie, which is both the best and worst thing about it.
It’s too bad that the excellent supporting cast doesn’t get more room to maneuver, because their characters are just as interesting and endearing. Jennifer Garner’s performance stands out, as she develops a complex, delicate character through subtle expression beyond the lines given her in the script. This is one of those performances that, due to the lead actress’s unstoppable energy, will probably be overlooked. That’s too bad. For all of Page’s cleverness and charisma, it’s Garner’s performance that gives the film such depth. And it wouldn’t be fair to praise her without also praising Jason Bateman’s convincing performance as an adult who has a lot of growing up to do.
J.K. Simmons, one of the best character actors working today, develops one of his best characters so far as Mr. MacGuff, a gruff but loving father (a rare breed on the big-screen these days). As Juno’s stepmom, Allison Janney finally gets a feature-film role to make us forget how she was confined to playing a zombie-like wife in American Beauty. Michael Cera’s performance will become a favorite for many viewers; he has an uncanny knack for¬†delivering lines as if¬†he only just¬†thought of them. As the uber-sensitive track star who fathered Juno’s baby, he creates a loveable fool who knows more about loving a woman faithfully and truly than most grown men ever understand.
The movie avoids so many common stumbles, it’s almost miraculous. Somehow, the whole affair avoids stooping to any crowdpleasing crassness and sophomoric indulgence. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Knocked Up.) And Cody’s writing is so compassionate, there isn’t a single villain in sight. Everyone is mixed up, everyone has moments of wisdom, and everyone grows and matures along the way.
Hopefully Juno will be embraced for its virtues, and not exploited as representing either side of the abortion debate. It’s too complicated to be paraphrased, or presented as a morality tale. These characters face many painful challenges, and as they think them through, they make choices that are sometimes admirable and sometimes dismaying. Some of the wise decisions lead to trouble, some of the foolish decisions lead to blessing. In that way, Juno dangerously resembles real life. And wouldn’t it be a good thing if more movies were like that?
(The fact that her family calls her “Junebug” may put viewers in mind of another recent movie about a pregnant woman and the need for compassion and courage in family relationships. Perhaps it’s time to revisit Phil Morrison’s minor miracle of a film… 2005′s Junebug. )
There’s a tenderness, a compassion, and a fulness to this story that is rare in comedies about teens, or sex, or parenthood. Thus, surrounded by variations on the theme, Juno stands out a step in the right direction when it comes to movies about immaturity, consequences, and growth.
December 5th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Nice review, Jeffrey. I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing this when I get the opportunity.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
you reached up and yanked me off the fence, Jeff. After reading your review, I simply must see this film. I predict a future screening at… the Crest? I’d see it sooner, but No Country for Old Men comes first.
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:06 am
I’d wait til after advent to watch No Country for Old Men wngl.
Brilliant, but talk about a Yule-tide buzz kill!
Foxsearchlight is hosting the the Juno script for free pdf download.
( http://www.foxsearchlight.com/awards/scripts/juno.pdf )
I just finished it and, once again Jeffery, your review is spot on.
Can’t wait to see it.
Keep up the great work sir!
~WarrenPiece