All Heart, No Substance

Rating: 6/10 (1 March 2008)

I walked into Juno expecting light comedy, perhaps a tear or two - and that's exactly what I got. My friends and I left the theater talking about it - we all agreed that it was very 'sweet.' But perhaps 'sweet' isn't befitting enough for a movie with such a theme as unplanned pregnancy. Then again, Juno doesn't exactly go anywhere near where it should in heaviness. A very bland tell-not-show mechanism is used in telling the story, and most of the issues vital to a plot are merely foreshadowed and never resolved sufficiently.
Characters are introduced and get their fair share of screen time - but there never seems to be any struggle between them relationship wise. There are many threads in the social web left dangling - Juno and her stepmother, father, and selected adoptive parents of her unborn child. At most, they're realistically portrayed in the way that complications are never explicitly made into the drama they deserve for on screen presentation - but it leaves the whole film relatively dull and anticlimactic.
The good in this film include the actors, namely the girl who played the title role. She far out shined Jennifer Garner, who seemed almost as without taste as the rest of the movie. Perhaps that was just her character. At least with her, there was a real conflict - but too easy a resolution. There wasn't any large bumps in the way. None that she had to climb over herself, anyway.
The music for Juno fits it very well; it sets the tone and gives it part of its charm. The odd, semi romantic lyric content and guitar instrumentals provide a very down to earth but dreamlike background to a suburban setting. They're quite catchy songs, as well.
Overall, I'd say Juno earned a 9/10 if it were going for realistic scenarios - a documentary, if you will. Anything else - a six.