Funny, but there's nothing here that deserves an Oscar

Rating: 4/10 (1 July 2008)

This film, even though it's quite sweet and genuinely funny at times, is deeply flawed and its nomination for the best picture award was an insult to the academy. Juno is not really much more than a totally forgettable teenage movie about a too cool to be true 16 old girl (Juno, played by Ellen Page) who gets pregnant.
The problems are pretty evident from the very beginning. Once Juno learns she is pregnant she tells her apparently closest female friend. She then pointlessly carries a circular shaped rug and a chair in front of her boyfriend's (Bleeker, played by Michael Cera), and father of the child, house and sits on it waiting for him to come out. Couldn't she just stand and wait? The presence of the chair, rug and an annoying pipe which Juno inexplicably loves shoving in her mouth, do not make much sense. The film seems to suffer from an overwhelming desire to impress. Later on when Juno along with Leah (played by Olivia Thirlby) are looking at adoption adverts in the papers, they're both wearing dark shades (how they managed to read with those on is beyond me, given the fact that it was hardly sunny) and Juno has this damn pipe in her mouth again.
Other than this desire to impress, one of the sources of my negative attitude towards this movie is that it takes something as serious as teenage pregnancy and turns it into an about 92 minute farce. Not a single character seems to ask Juno why in God's name she found it so hard to buy those rubber things that answer to the name of condoms which could have spared her the misery of having a child at 16. In addition the character of Juno is very hateful, has no regard for others, and seems to be amazingly dumb. She wonders why everyone at school is staring at her, let me guess, could it be the bloated belly which indicates her pregnancy only at 16 years of age? Maybe it's that she's sitting in the award frame (when she and Leah are having lunch) surrounded by scraps of snack paper. It's this right-in-your-face stupidity that makes the film more annoying than it naturally is.
Secondly Juno suggests that Bleeker asks Katrina Devort (another female classmate) to the prom, if my memory doesn't fail me, and gets very mad at him when he does so. There's a nice stable person. She gets surprised to find herself pregnant after having unprotected sex (is this a joke?), gets mad at Bleeker when she was actually the one who initiated the sex act and then again has a fight with him when the only thing he did was take the advice she freely offered. On top of all that Juno is just not believable, hardly anybody talks the way she does and as I've already said, she's far too cool to be true. Personally I don't buy it. Maybe well written but unrealistic and it makes a mockery of teenage pregnancy.
And as if all the above was not enough, there is one particular sequence I find extremely offensive and ridiculous. This is when Juno is having her ultrasound along with her step mom (played by Allison Janney) and Leah. Brenda (the step mom) decides to verbally abuse the ultrasound technician because she dared to suggest that a teenage mother would provide a very poisonous environment for the baby to grow up in. In other words she spoke nothing but the truth and in return she got abused by a less educated woman who (the way I see it) is still struggling to accept her teenage stepdaughter's pregnancy. Juno on the other hand suggests that the adoptive parents could be psychos for all they know (yeah right, of all the possible scenarios this is the most likely). There doesn't seem to be much point in this scene other than it being a test of Allison Janney's speed of dialog. It's not a very good message to take home to kids either: it's alright to get pregnant as a teenager because you never know; you could make a good parent.
Jennifer Garner (Vanessa) and Jason Bateman (Mark) are the only characters that appear convincing. Vanessa wants a baby very badly whereas Mark is not sure and thinks there are still things he wants to do. Even though Mark is immature and chases nothing but adolescent fantasies (at 40) he admits it at least. Both Mark and Vanessa do look like a genuine couple having a conflict.
So in conclusion, Juno is an extremely annoying movie because of both the dialog and its unrealistically flippant portrayal of teenage pregnancy. Humor is nice but can't be used in dealing with pregnancy. Juno's condition can leave an indelible stain on her record, yet everyone keeps telling dumb jokes never giving it the seriousness it deserves. Juno again is hateful, selfish and totally unrealistic.
Juno is just another teenage movie pretty much like the garbage that was American pie, except it's not about sex but about pregnancy. It's nothing that will be remembered but still it delivers a few laughs. However it's more about 'growing up and the inevitable pregnancies along the way' than 'growing up and the bumps along the way.