Juno a good movie? If you gave it more than 3 stars "Ju DON'T no" a good movie from a depends commercial

Rating: 3/10 (6 February 2009)

Let me just start by saying that I don't necessarily hate it when a bad film gets made because, lets face it: people like weird things. It's why movies like "Battlefield Earth" are made. It's not because a bunch of people in Hollywood wanted to waste a lot of money. It's because consumer tastes are extreme and inconsistent. What I DO hate is when a bad movie is made and people love it because of a bunch of hyped up marketing techniques and not because its actually a good film.
The plot of the movie is Juno, the main character, gets pregnant and decided to have the baby and plans to give it up for adoption to a preselected couple. Pretty simple basis. Right along with the simplistic delivery and poorly developed characters. The most thoroughly devised task these people had was to figure out just how and just how many trendy remarks and hipster referenced they could Jam into an hour and a half. LONG before I decided to sit down and actually watch it, I had already caught onto the possibility that this might not really be the timeless "Oscar" gem it had made itself out to be. It was probably the constant hamburger phone ads I kept seeing. "You mean I could own the clunky, impractical CORD phone from that movie?" I didn't buy into that. But pretenses aside, there were so many more things about this movie I didn't like AS I was watching it. Basically, it was a Myspace movie. It shallowly portrayed a real life, in-depth situation in a way that appealed to a demographic that is more entertained by trendy culture than it is by good movie making. There were too many attempts at coming up with the next Austin Powers or Borat catch phrase. To me, it was like trying to take Billy Mays seriously as an actor when he's trying to sell oxyclean. I feel insulted when a director doesn't even make an attempt to be subtle about product placement in a film. The only thing worse than having a commercial in the middle of a movie is when its done in a way that feels like you're being slapped in the face with a billboard. Even the music in the movie screamed for you to go out and buy it. It didn't set the mood or compliment the scene. It was just trying to wedge its way onto the big screen for exposure.
But the thing about this movie that really got on my nerves was that the fast-food, "OMG LOL" characters were supposed to represent my generation. Even if it was the way the actors were supposed to portray the characters, there was no intelligence, responsibility, or morality displayed by any of them and really thats the most aggravating trend for me to watch: having a repertoire of smart ass comebacks and pop culture references is a lot cooler than having any moral value.
I have to say that after watching Juno, I began to question the Oscar nomination selection process. There were no stellar performances, the camera work and photography was rudimentary, the music; out of place. This was the perfect example of how you can use the right amount of exposure and marketing techniques to sell just about anything. Just remember, you can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig.