A pleasant, mild-mannered, well-written, emotionally amusing... little film.

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2008)

Juno is the first film to be written by Diablo Cody and has already gained much recognition for its caustic and apt renditions of youth. The film tells of a 16 year old girl called Juno who discovers that she is pregnant. She quickly explores the various options available to her before deciding on having the baby put up for adoption. The film then follows her through the pregnancy and documents her along the way. Juno is a film that manages to tug at the heart strings of those that watch it and many critics have drawn obvious parallels with fellow off-beat heart warmers "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Garden State"  films that are equally as good as, if not better than, Juno. What makes Juno better is that because of its chosen topic and amusing anecdotes it has a superior emotional appeal making the film more of a charm.
Juno is written with a sense of cynicism and wit that that feels both refreshing and pertinent to modern youth; her manner of speaking is aptly fitting for a 16 year old girl because it has been culturally influenced and reworked in her favour. Her quips, witticisms and sarcasm manifest themselves through her distorted grasp of language i.e. she utilizes words and phrases for her own benefit, as do many teenagers. Cody's ability to capture this style of speech has been appraised in many quarters with some interviewers even suggesting that she'd hung-out with teenagers before writing the film. She has denied this. My problem doesn't lie with the 16 year old Juno, but with all of the other characters  as I believe none of them stand apart from Juno. For example the banter between her parents bears similarity to Juno's distinct delivery, many of the lines delivered by her baby's father Paulie and her friend could have easily been said by Juno. To have these characters delivering quips and puns with such a readiness as Juno I found a little disheartening as it almost undermined Juno's incisive repertoire. Moreover Cody has since stated that many of the young Juno's attributes are ones that she'd have liked when she was 16. This information allows for more forgiving criticism as previously I had issues with a girl of 16 having such an extensive and knowledgeable background of punk music and Italian horror films. Unfortunately it doesn't bode well with your writing skills if you need to explain your motivations once the piece is finished.
Because the central theme to the film Juno is pregnancy it has been stated that it is championing pro-life (or dare I say it - American Christian Fundamentalism). I do not agree with this, but I do find it a little confusing that we never really know what goes through Juno's mind in the Abortion clinic. One such explanation is that perhaps it is an allegory for choice and, no matter her choice, no one (not even the audience) has right to know her reasons. With abortion being such a feisty issue I find it amusing that both camps have been stereotyped here. The receptionist of the abortion clinic is depicted as a sexually obsessed moron and the prospective patients are ridden with angst, but this is counter balanced by the lone pro-life protester outside that doesn't know what day it is or how to run her own life, let alone preach to others about theirs. Juno flees from both and there is no need to concentrate on the abortion clinic any further as Juno has made her decision albeit unknown as to why. Admittedly the premise of Juno could be frustrating to real-life pro-choice supporters, but to delve into these political connotations any further would be unjust to the film.
The music used in Juno feels like the makers are trying to impose their tastes upon us, much in the same way Zach Braff did with the band "The Shins" in "Garden State". A bonus in using such a technique is that it will increase the films cult status through strengthening its appeal and by possibly making it nostalgic in years to come, this idea is furthered by the final guitar scene. Directed by Jason Reitman, Juno employs certain approaches to this type of cinema that are steadily becoming clichéd e.g. the animated in-film titles or the various montages of stills but despite this the film moves along with a fluidity of pace that is both complementary and non-encroaching on the films themes. Overall Juno is a pleasant, mild-mannered, well-written, emotionally deep and amusing little film  it is film that will fill almost every audience member with amplitude feelings of placid merriment. All I can advise is to ignore the hype and go and see it in a small cinema with not many people or at home with a bottle of wine and you will not be disappointed.