a lot of fun! pretentious? non!

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2008)

'Juno' is an unusual film that really carries you along with it.
the dialogue is the first thing that hits you, quickly followed by crackling & quirky characters. even the setting is vivid & purposeful and evokes realism. (although i wasn't so sure why Paulie had the hebrew alphabet thing on the back of his door).
clearly filmed in Canada (i mean, not only was there a metric 2.8L jug of SunnyD, but it filmed on the container's French side, hence the comma instead of the period). HAHA! i think this just adds to its charm!
i could think of worse films which take themselves way too seriously... 'Juno' doesn't suffer from being too twee. i found the offbeat, upbeat nature of the main character, & the slightly surreal interactions of all the characters made for a jolly tableau.
sometimes people *really are* that witty in real life (i know i am ;-) so i felt that Juno's snappy deliveries (even when she doesn't get it right) were consistent with a teen who is either masking her (relative) 'immaturity' or is exhibiting her brightness & uniqueness... either way, it worked for me!
'Juno' is funny, irreverent, comic, & even densitive, yet without the schmaltz. feelin' sorry for the haters right about now, as whatever they were expecting or had brought to the screening with them thwarted their enjoyment of something uncommon.