Review of Juno (2007) by Harry W — 28 Jul 2014

Being a critically acclaimed and Academy Award winning portrayal of teenage pregnancy, Juno sounded like it would be worth checking out.

Juno takes a while to adjust to, but it is a good film because of its lighthearted approach to the subject matter of teenage pregnancy. IT doesn't glamourize the situation and does emphasise the drama of the situation, but it does it without putting excessive emphasis on melodrama or tedious sentimentality. There is a lot of drama in the film, but it remains in the subtext while the general passion of the film is on the comedic material. It gives the film an edge and a sense of constant lighthearted strength which separates it from other films of the same subject matter. Juno has a lot of energy in its script which makes it stand strong and the dialogue of the film is naturally funny. Occasionally, the comedy feels a little artificial and even a bit cheesy in the general focus of the narrative. But most of the time it manages to make the film entertaining from both a dramatic and comedic standpoint, as well as the fact that it is handled with powerful direction on behalf of Jason Reitman in his feature length directional debut. The combination of Diablo Cody's screenplay with Jason Reitman's direction ends up ensuring that the sophistication and the meaning in the film is maintained. Although at times this proves to be the dowfall of the film as well because it handles the material and subject matter in a thin way from certain perspectives, as a whole it succesfully makes the film a memorable piece for having its own kind of approach to the subject matter and since it does not end up too dramatic. Admittedly, it isn't always as funny as it wants to be and it is deep in some areas while shallow in others, but the point is that it is a good film and has a strong script to support it, even if in my opinion it was not deserving of winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Juno is an imperfect film, and I feel like one of the problems is that it neglects the focus on a lot of the major concepts in the film. Although the film establishes just who Juno MacGuff is, it does not realyl go into depth about the kind of relationship she shares with her father. But more importantly, it does not point much towards the relationship she shares with Paulie Bleeker, the father of her child. There is little reference to him or how she feels about him, or even about how he feels about the entire situation. I know that the importance is more focused on Juno MacGuff as the title of the film points out how she is the centre of the film and the fact that she is the pregnant one, but I feel like the film could have had more meaning if it touched upon how Juno really felt about Paulie's role in her life instead of ignoring it for the majority of the film and then suddenly turning it around in the end. The pacing of the film was something I found faulty because after a sensibly quick introduction, the film's pace suddenly slowed down. This was ok until the conclusion of everything became rushed, and so I felt like there was more of the story to be told than there ended up being alotted in the 96 minute running time of the film. Really, Juno is definetely a good film but it had a lot of flaws in my eyes. It was realistic, but it cut certain aspects of the meaning in the film short.

The style of the film is also nice because it features a versatile soundtrack as well as the fact that all the scenery is very good and captured with stylish cinematography. But quintessentially, all the importance in Juno ends up coming from the quality of the cast.

Ellen Page turns in a leading performance which capitalises on all of her charismatic charm without problem. It takes no time for her to establish Juno. She delivers her lines with an easy dead on charm and a consistent energy, and so it is reallueasy for viewers to find themselves sympathising for her the entire time. She starts out funny and keeps that mood consistently over the course of the film, but she also develops a sense of emotional drama more and more as the film progresses. The language in the film seems to have been written straight for her, becuase otherwise it just goes to show that Ellen Page is easily skilful at turning dialogue into organic material for herself. She expresses a lot of powerful acting talent in the role because she puts dramatic depth into the role of Juno MacGuff while also keeping herself consistently funny which makes her an easily likabl figure. It is hard not to fall for Ellen Page's charms because her performance in Juno is potentially the best of her career and arguably the funniest. Ellen Page holds her own with a skilful performance and interacts with the surrounding cast of the film very skilfully, so she manages to carry the entire film from start to finish very well.

Michael Cera does not play as much of a pivotal role in the film as I had hoped, but his performance is good whenever he is on screen because he manages to play out his naturally neurotic persona to a certain extent of depth this time around in Juno and therefore makes it easy to sympathise for him as well. He shares a nice chemistry with Ellen Page, and he delivers his lines with a spot on awkward and unconfident demeanour which is strongly befitting for the role. Michael Cera works to make himself a great cast member in Juno.

Jennifer Garner's supporting effort is really likable because of how easily she is able to embody a motherly figure for the story which gives a certain level of support to the progressing birth that hangs over Juno's head, and J.K. Simmons plays out the father archetype in the story very well.

Rainn Wilson's cameo was also great because he made a hilarious impact in a short period of time.

So despite suffering from certain flaws about where the story focuses its depth and some pacing issues, Juno ends up being a refreshingly funny and subtly meaningful examination of teenage pregnancy which is anchored by a lighthearted approach and a powerfully dedicated cast led by the excellent talents of Ellen Page.