Review of Juno (2007) by Andersm. — 06 Dec 2007

At their first meeting, the 16-year-old title character corrects the would-be adoptive father of her illegitimate child that her namesake is not the city in Alaska but rather the Roman Queen of the Gods and once you see this movie, you'll likely realize that the name Juno could not be more appropriate, nay, perfect.

Initially wearing something non-descript, the audience has to observe her mannerisms and hear her cant to begin to develop an understanding of who she is. And the screenwriter, Diablo Cody, director, Jason Reitman, and lead actress, Ellen Page, do an amazing job of showing this through her brusque, mannish, sarcastic, juvenile-idiom-laden speech, her resolute gait, and her brutally-honest and witty utterances.

Juno, while--not coincidentally--being the goddess of motherhood, is also infamously the bitchiest of the gods. One must take into account, however, that she always had reason to be filled with hatred or jealousy; her husband was constantly philandering with mortals of both sexes.

Juno, also representing monogamy in marriage, is justified in her rage and her firm expression of her feelings is respectable rather than hysterical (and by the way, the monogamy/infidelity issue plays a key role in the film).

As I was watching a preview screening at the Lagoon theater on Nov. 28, it was difficult for me to rid myself of the notion that I wasn't watching the goddess Juno herself, except here mortal, adolescent, and Midwestern.

In this film as in reality, the company that every character holds describes his or her personality in a more profound way than their characters in isolation and they become exponentially more complex as they interact.

The adoptive couple, the Lorings, initially come off as two-dimensional, but as we discover that Mark (Jason Bateman)--instead of being the nesting, Bed-Bath-and-Beyond-type like his wife Vanessa (Jennifer Garner)--is rather is an aging, frustrated, sellout of an ex-hipster and one can take this to illustrate a whole history to their relationship.

Juno springs from her lower-middle class, disciplining yet disaffected parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) as logically as the theory of gravity. And the fact that Juno, the self-described goth librarian, is best friends with Leah (Olivia Thirlby), an animated, cheerleader-type ginger who lusts after her English teacher describes both girls better than either one alone; the inter-clique connection happens when both people mutually see something unique beneath the surface.

Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), Juno's baby-daddy, is the headbanded track star (maybe he's working off the baby fat he appears to still have) that occasionally reveals passions his meekness would otherwise belie.

You see what they saw in each other, as in the movie's Moldy Peaches theme song "Anyone Else But You". I confess myself to be blown away at having learned that seemingly the most of the mother-loving soundtrack owes its brilliance to the actress who plays Juno, Ellen Page.

Reitman asked her what she thought her character listened to and she said, "The Moldy Peaches," which isn't quite the 70's-era rock the character explicitly says she listens to, but lends its charmingly puerile tones and jaded/sentimental lyrics perfectly to the film's general milieu (especially with the solo music of band-member Kimya Dawson).

The music immediately distinguishes the movie as one targeted at young people of the artistic temperament, but never self-consciously or crudely, eg. Garden State. The opening credits, animated by Shadowplay studios, which also did the one for "Thank You For Smoking", seemed somewhat incongruous to the rest of the film.

The cartoon outline of Juno walking around the squiggly, pastel neighborhood drinking a gallon jug of "Sunny-D" suggests that the rest of the movie will be equally cartoonish and the main character a potentially-mentally-challenged outsider.

Especially paired with the first scene where Rainn Wilson plays a 7-11 clerk that harasses Juno about the pregnancy tests she continues to buy and fail, the opening credits prepare you for a movie like Napoleonette Dynamite.

Reitman, when asked about the similarities, said that unlike Napoleon Dynamite, Juno isn't set in an alternate universe, but rather firmly in reality. As the movie develops, he is proven correct because the characters quickly stop acting like quippy caricatures.

That's not to say it isn't funny. In fact, it is much funnier than Dynamite. The frequency and intensity of the jokes is blistering. Don't zone out for a minute or else you'll miss jokes that are hidden in the background or muttered under someone's breath.

Almost as quickly the mood will change from hilarious to heartbreaking and, although jarring, it's also pleasantly sobering. The story is as well-constructed and unpredictable as one could ever desire.

In the end, there will be tears guaranteed for the saps among us and those willing to make themselves vulnerable to images and sounds. In the end, you will feel that the older characters will find a newer understanding of themselves and that the younger characters will discover their identities for the first time.

You will be convinced that they will grow into the people you want to be friends with. In the end, you will feel the long-lost reverence for the miracle of motherhood that makes mother goddesses of any name smile.

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