Lackluster, Self Absorbed, Geeky, Clunky

Rating: 2/10 (7 February 2009)

I'd heard so much about Juno that I curious why I was so disappointed. It took re watching it & a long time thinking to come up with the answer.
For a start its got some of the same feel as Napoleon Dynamite, yet somehow it misses the mark. What struck me early on was the way colours were used, specifically red & gold, it is everywhere. While such visual sub texts can be subtle yet stunning in setting up an atmosphere (best exemplified by the 'eyes' in Blade Runner) in Juno it is too obvious & definitely overdone.
There's other "Director's class 101" stuff, note how the very pregnant Juno stands opposite Bleeker who has his hands in his sweat jersey pockets making his stomach area bulge too. it's supposed to show empathy, but its simply too obvious.
As for the plot, I don't get where its going nor do I care for the characters much. Juno McGuff, the lead character, seems to just drift through it all as if its not really happening to her, much the way that Bleeker does. This is a 14 year old pregnancy, where's the angst? Even the stereotypical "rock" of Brenda 'Bren' MacGuff, Juno's step mother, seems to be some sort of attenuated personality. Her biggest dream is for when Juno moves out s she can buy 2 dogs. This is truly geeky in the extreme. In fact almost everyone seems to be adrift in some way or another & if this is the message of the film then it is portrayed very badly & could have been done a lot better.
The Lorings at first come across as almost normal by contrast, but soon degenerate into yet more clichéd by-the-numbers Tortured Middle Class stereotypes. However I do have to say that Jennifer Garner as Vanessa Loring & Jason Bateman as Mark Loring distinguish themselves in their roles quite well, even give the creaky script. Garner is especially creepy as the obsessive adoptive mother to be & you can see why Mark Loring eventually has second thoughts & leaves.
This does touch a genuine theme, that when it comes to children quite often men's wishes & aspirations can be left behind or remain repressed by pressure of expectation, only appearing later when the situation becomes untenable & too much of life has passed by to remain in what for many men is a trap. I wish this had been explored more but we are left with the gaping dysfunction unresolved.
And this brings me to another point, the stereotyping of men in a lot of Hollywood productions, note Juno's pretty much dumb father, the rock steady step mother, the obsessed adoptive mother, the irresponsible I-Want-My-Freedom adoptive father who steps out of a marriage. Its feminised & hence sexist.
This isn't as bad as say Married with Children but this is sickeningly main stream these days. Look at that mobile phone TV advert where the father (who provides for his family) hands out phones to everyone & is seen as desperate for attention yet he is absolutely ignored by everyone. If this were a joke about stereotypical mother in laws or dumb blondes there would be outrage. But men are supposed to take it & say nothing.
Personally I think it is inexcusable & proof that the director, writers & producers of this film were lazy in the extreme & that's what sums it up. Its lazy, lazily shot, lazily written & lazily acted (mostly). The great sound track does rescue it, but I could generate the same interest from my iPod without sitting through Juno.