Juno review!

breesays Dec 03, 2007

I didn't know much about 'Juno' before I was told I'd be covering it, but 'they' said it'd be PERFECT for me.

OMG THEY WERE RIGHT. It is now, without a doubt, one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time.

Quick version of the sitch: 16 year old Juno (Ellen Page) gets pregnant by Paul Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno decides to give the baby up for adoption, and she finds the ideal couple (the Loring's, played by Jen Garner and Jason Bateman) in the pennysaver. If you need any other info, you can go on IMDB. Ha.

The movie is REALLY well written (Diablo Cody, ily!). Witty, intelligent, but NOT overdone (see: the last season of Gilmore Girls).

You know what the most amazing part is? I don't think I've ever seen a movie about teen pregnancy that didn't attempt to be preachy, that didn't try to shove a pro-choice or pro-life message down your throat. In other movies that deal with this topic, the girl is always JUDGED-- she's careless, she's a slut, she's an at risk youth, etc etc. You always suffer through the movie going, "Man, I'm glad I'm not her." But in this movie, well, you'd LOVE to be Juno. At no point do you ever feel sorry for her, because she HANDLES things. She makes decisions. That's what I love about all the characters, really-- when life throws them curveballs they react, but they bounce back. They're empowered, resilient.

It's not predictable. You think you might know how her parents react when she tells them she's pregnant, or how the father of the baby will react-- or even how her best friend will react. But quite honestly, I don't think I've ever seen such believable (yet inspiring) relationships and interactions.

It was cast perfectly. The music is perfect. The dialogue is INCREDIBLE. The setting is perfect. The ending is perfect.

I laughed. I cried. OKAY-- I KNOW that's cliche, but I swear I DID! What weird is I wasn't crying because something was sad. I actually... HAPPY cried. Now, I'm not saying I have a black little heart, but I'm not easily moved. I think maybe the last time I cried was when I saw Meet Joe Black. And the series finale of The O.C. Just kidding.