Simple Story Packed With Laughs

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2008)

Juno? Like the city in Alaska? No. This film starring Ellen Page as a pregnant teenager and Michael Cera as Paulie Bleeker (the father and best friend) will indubitably make you sob in laughter. The story is a simple one; it follows a 16 year old, eccentric girl named Juno, who gets pregnant. The plot follows her nine months of laughter, hardships, and new found friendships as she keeps the baby so she can give to an eager couple played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. This film was well received by critics everywhere, winning a total of 38 awards, one of them being an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Juno got it all for a great reason: it's a pretty good film.
The movie introduces the characters in the best way possible. At once you feel a connection with Juno and everyone else she interacted with. Ellen Page and Michael Cera worked adorably together, you can see their charisma but also feel a sort of tension between them during the film, especially during the scene where Juno moves a living room set on Paulie's lawn, that was fun to watch. Mark's scenes (Jason Bateman) were refreshing, but often uncomfortable due to little thing going on with Juno there, but the character himself was great all because he owned such pretty guitars.
The music in this movie was unique, strange, and refreshingly simple. Had I heard it anywhere else I probably would have hated it, but it's just right for this movie. It fits the weird characters and overall the oddness of the movie. It's mainly composed of simple guitar strums and drunk sounding people singing about whatever, but also features bands such as Sonic Youth.
I loved the acting. It's just eerie how good of an actress Ellen Page is, she really made the character lovable and funny. The way she defined relationships with other characters was fantastic, they seemed authentic. I also commend Jennifer Garner for breaking reality, she's talented enough to make you forget she's acting, which was a problem for me in the film. Leah's character (Olivia Thirlby) was interesting, but made the film seem just a bit artificial, we could have done without her.
I generally enjoyed this film. It was a great laugh with a simple story line. Usually something like that doesn't work out, but the way it was composed made it a refreshing watch. The actors and actresses all worked well together on the screen and they were fun to watch, the movie was just a little weak when it came to personal character development. And it was hard to forget that they were just actors on the screen. However, the music makes up for it, the simplicity of it gives the film the whole quirky feel. If you're looking for a movie for a good night-in on a Friday night, then this would be a superb choice. Its comedy is what makes it up, but it does it well.