i just don't get it

Rating: 1/10 (16 December 2010)

maybe its because i just don't find teenagers that interesting. well actually someone like Ree in winter's bone is interesting, but Juno? no. Yep she is faced with a dilemma, pregnant at sixteen, and yep she deals with it, with a certain amount of chutzpah, that might impress her neighbours and the like. but the big screen? for one and a half hours? is this really such a subtle, original piece, worthy of an Oscar nod? I find Juno's precocity irritating, as indeed most teenagers are. she likes music, has eclectic tastes, yeah and....!! she is oh so world weary, and cynical .... yeah,at sixteen! and for some reason we are meant to see this as unusual fora sixteen year old girl. well i don't know about you, but this pretty much described half my rather conventional school friends of my own teenage years -
struggling with a teenage pregnancy and exploring a wholesome ending might be worthwhile viewing, but i found everything about the exploration dishonest. the film was intent in provoking the audiences respect for this putatively spiky sixteen year old, and did not delve into any deeper issues. It was so superficial, and to my mind frustrating for a more challenging and honest story is there to be had with pretty much the same story line, just not in this film.
the most moving moments, well to me the only moving moments, were Jennifer garner, playing a prickly middle aged woman desperate for a child, stripped of her shell as she holds her adopted baby for the first time. and Michale Cara as always is an extraordinary presence but as the for the rest no, i would rather watch the Brady bunch which at least has an awareness of its own superficiality.