From out of the mouths of babes having babies ... improbable wit

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2008)

David Edelstein, film critic for New York magazine and NPR's "Fresh Air," had issues with "Juno," but then, he called Jason Reitman's earlier directorial debut an "ugly" adaptation of the book about the lobbying game, Thank You For Smoking. (My problem with that film was that, as a comedy, it didn't quite uglify its subject enoughAaron Eckhart was too likable, and he never truly distances himself from hypocrisy and venal service to greedy interests, even as he professes to be trying to give his son some moral compass.)
We agree that the dialogue in this latest effort, especially the titular lead Juno's (Ellen Page), gratesbut for different reasons. Edelstein likens it to "bad Neil Simon," with bad throwaway jokes litteringculminatingeach scene. There is some similarity to Simon's staginess, in that the dialogue here is speechy and unerringly witty. The real problem is that, as clever and amusing as it all is (especially Juno's lines), no actual 16-year-old talks like that. (Except my own teen-age daughter, and, probably, a 20-year-old too-smart-for-her own-good young woman I recently met, who's probably been a wise-ass impervious to any views but her own for at least four years ...) And, if one does, I think she qualifies to be a legitimate romantic interest of an older man (or at least, an "inappropriate" buddy), as turns out here with Jason Bateman's character Mark, the henpecked half of the couple who are adopting Juno's budding offspring.
This film is hard not to like, as Page is both sassy and endearing, with a genuineness the false-sounding lines can't fully obscure. But it's hard to cheer for the ending, where over-controlling Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) is set to raise the baby but without a husband by her side representing sanity, humor and offbeat balance. And, in a phenomenon remarked on in this space before, Juno, like many women, is her own worst enemyassuming, out of whatever insecurities, that the boy she used for first-time sex didn't want an ongoing relationship. Edelstein worries that, especially with the likely popularity of this film with the 'tween girl demographic, we're about to get a society based on a whole generation of Junos. I don't blame him in his concern, but he's a little late: It's already in the works. (For more film-osophy of this ilk, as well as "Fake News," humor, satire, news and opinion, visit the online version of our print publication, or google it and click on the link for its blog.)