Feel-good movie of the year for Film Appreciation teacher

Rating: 10/10 (25 April 2008)

Java Man Reviews "Juno" (Rated PG-13). Directed by Jason Reitman. Written by Diablo Cody. Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J. K. Simmons & Olivia Thirlby. Running Time: 92 minutes. Originally appeared in LakewoodBuzz.com.
OVERVIEW:
Juno MacGuff (Page) is a 16-year-old girl who decides it's time to have her first sexual experience. In an inelegant seduction scene, she persuades her best friend Paulie Bleeker (Cera) to participate in her adventurous experiment. Of course she gets pregnant. After a touching trip to an abortion clinic, she decides to put the baby up for adoption. Her girlfriend Leah (Thirlby) suggests looking at the ads for potential parents in the Penny Saver... "They have 'Desperately Seeking Spawn,' right next to the pet ads." When Juno breaks the news to her mom and dad (Janney and Simmons) their reaction is both priceless and hilarious. Her dad accompanies her to meet the upscale prospective parents, Vanessa and Mark Loring (Garner and Bateman). Vanessa seems overly obsessed with becoming a mom, while Mark is a jingle-writer who always wanted to be a rock star. Juno and Mark have similar tastes in music and hit it off -- almost too well. The film follows Juno for the full nine months as we get glimpses of the deeper feelings beneath the teenager's wisecracking exterior. What will she eventually do? The film has too many surprises to make that an easy guess.
REVIEW: 4 out of 4 Java Mugs
When Jon Stewart hosted the Oscar telecast earlier this year, he commented on the dark themes that characterized the other four Best Picture nominees: war, betrayal, murder and greed. Then he said... "Thank God for teen pregnancy." Though this film doesn't quite qualify as "feel-good movie of the year," a picture this well-made makes a film appreciation teacher feel pretty good about the state of cinema.
First of all, the screenplay is smart, and so are the characters. Though a serious subject, there is plenty of humor, which comes from witty dialogue and inspired plotting and not from people taking pratfalls. Director Reitman has also done an exceptional job of casting the film with such old pros as Janney and Simmons who play Juno's parents to perfection, and newcomers Cera and Thirlby as Juno's perceptive pals. Garner brings unexpected depth to a character we originally perceive as hopelessly shallow.
While all the parts are well-acted and well-written (by Oscar winner Cody), the movie belongs to Ellen Page. With dazzling brilliance, she portrays a very bright girl who makes a mistake, lives with it, and attempts to solve her problems in unique and imaginative ways. A star in the making? The 21-year old Nova Scotian has actually been around for a few years, burning up screens in Canadian theaters and on north-of-the-border television.
My Oscar class debated whether or not this movie has a political axe to grind. Pro choice or pro life? We couldn't agree. We did agree on one thing... Juno is one of the year's best.