Highly overrated

Rating: 3/10 (12 December 2012)

I'm sorry, but I honestly cannot see why this film gets any sort of praise. My main issue with it is that it fails to deliver its message about the negative effects of teen pregnancy. The film's protagonist does not seem surprised in the slightest that she's having a child. She just scoffs and shrugs her shoulders as though she had a C on her math test. The film doesn't give the audience a chance to generate any sympathy for her, it's just a way of saying "Hey, look! This is what'll happen when you're pregnant!". The general message of the film is also sickening, "if you have a child, no problem, just give it to a stranger couple and act as though it never happened". While most of the time, the dialog can be quirky and cute and funny, it certainly does not make up for its pretense and overall hypocrisy. It's a lot like the 1989 film "UHF", humor wise, it's funny, but story wise, it's awful. Allow me to go off topic here about Roger Ebert's review of the film. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Ebert as much as the next person out there, but I can't help but point this out. He strongly criticizes the 2004 film "Team America: World Police" for having an oh-so nihilistic view of the war on terror, but has absolutely no problem seeing a teenager nonchalantly hand over her child to a couple of strangers. Why? At least with "Team America", it was intentionally sneering at both Democrats and Republicans, whereas in "Juno", it tries to explain about the negative effects of teen pregnancy and completely misses the mark. I could go on an hour long tirade about why I dislike this film, but I just wanted to give you the basics. I reiterate, funny, yes, quirky, sure, but best film of 2009, hell no.