If I could claim back the wasted 96 minutes of my life, I would!

Rating: 2/10 (4 May 2008)

This film is about a supposedly clever and responsible sixteen year old girl named Juno who's (astonishingly) surprised to find she's pregnant after having unprotected sex and how the decisions she makes from then on affect her and the lives of those around her, notably the person she slept with, her parents and a couple eager to adopt her baby.
I'll start by saying that I really can't understand why some people heap praise on Juno. Teenage pregnancy, planned or not, wanted or not, is not a new and out there subject matter for TV and film. It's been convincingly done many, many times before and being unrealistic is the main problem here. I'm guessing the success this film has had is almost exclusively down to some impressionable young girls wishing they could have Juno's characteristics in real life.
Before I even get to her pregnancy, I must point out that Juno's language comes across as scripted and false, her personality is like that you'd expect from a US sitcom trying to be smart and hip and her knowledge on certain subjects is akin to someone at least ten years her senior. Combined, these things get very distracting and between them writer Diablo Cody, director Jason Reitman and actress Ellen Page (through no fault of her own) really sour the film. Why do US teenagers have to be portrayed by older people in film and TV, seen to be far more grown up than you'd expect from their age bracket? Why must US 'burb kids always be heard needlessly using words such as "like", whatever" and "dude" in normal day to day conversation? Certainly not something you'd expect from a typical sixteen year old girl (even one who declares herself to be "one of those freaky girls").
Moving on to Juno's pregnancy then, there are a number of things I just can't believe are handled so irresponsibly. For example, I find it incredible that taking precautions before having sex is barely even mentioned by anyone at any time throughout the film! Also, Juno tells the father she's pregnant and, before he's even had time for things to sink in, she's contently on her way making all the big decisions by herself in a totally carefree manner! In fact, almost everyone involved (exceptions being Jennifer Garner's and Jason Bateman's characters) behave exactly how everyday, civilised people wouldn't. Juno's father takes the news of her pregnancy unbelievably well! His sixteen year old daughter has a bun in the oven and he reacts as if she's just insisted upon painting her bedroom black! Any self respecting dad would have yelled her ears off, demanding to know who the father is! What kind of people do we have here? Certainly not normal.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that, according to this film, abortion and adoption seem to be the only options available to a modern day, pregnant teenager. Actually keeping the child hardly gets a mention and is quickly brushed aside. There's plenty more wrong I could mention but these would border on being spoilers so I'll leave it to unfortunate viewers to pick up on things for themselves.
If I could claim back the wasted 96 minutes of my life, I would! This slowly paced film is middle of the road at best and certainly not worthy of such a high rating and ranking on IMDb or the numerous nominations and awards it's received. I'd even go so far as to say that the film is inappropriate for adolescent girls as the subject matter is handled very irresponsibly, both in front of the camera and behind it.