The story is about 16 year old girl named Juno McGuff (Ellen Page) who ended up pregnant after having sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno’s first thought was abortion but then she decides on giving up her baby for adoption. Juno found the supposedly perfect couple Vanessa and Mark (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) to be the parents of her child also ended up the not so perfect couple after all.
The first thing that caught my attention to watch this movie was its soundtrack. Cool songs by the way until the end of the movie. I am a viewer who listens intently and enthusiastically to soundtracks because they make me even appreciate the movie itself. The archetypal tunes and the strings of the guitar told me: hey watch me! The intro of the movie sort of struck me already, my first impression was.. because of the very “cartoonic” or comic icons I said that this would be something to make me laugh but then Juno didn’t only make me laugh, it made me become more open minded.
Juno McGuff played by Ellen Page is an extremely awesome actress at her age of 20. She did her role so well that her facial expressions and gestures will tell you that she’s really into her profession. Bleeker, played by Michael Cera was also so good that his expressions would fit his face. The not-so-innocent look but the look of admitting that he got Juno pregnant made him a good actor as well. As for Vanessa played by Jennifer Garner, it’s a head turner to see her act in a dramatic role. I was used to watching her kicking butts like in Alias and Elektra, and the euphoric and bubbly Jennifer in 13 going on 30.
It’s seldom to see teen movies with a different twist. The usual teen movies would only do so much about having fun, kids being bullied and the bullies, a new girl or boy in school who would turn out to be someone famous in the end and all the other usual teenage stuff. Juno is not that kind of teen movie. Although Juno is also the usual teenager, but then her situation is somewhat still sensitive to a lot of people. Juno is more than reality itself but the truth that teenagers face these days.
The writer (Cody) together with the director (Reitman) surely knows how to make the audience appreciate all the facets of life. All the possibilities and all the imperfections of human relationships can be seen in this movie. Clearly, decision making and the will the stand for what a person believes in is very evident in this movie.
Teenagers would either risk themselves for abortion or live up with what they got into. It’s a different issue if you’re a closed door catholic. I’d like to quote what A.O. Scott of the New York Times said:
{{“Juno” also shares with “Knocked Up” an underlying theme, a message that is not anti-abortion but rather pro-adulthood. It follows its heroine — and by the end she has earned that title — on a twisty path toward responsibility and greater self-understanding.}}
(check out his review on Juno at http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/movies/05juno.html)
All of us if not everyone have our own movies to play to, we have a twisty and winding road ahead of us which eventually will lead us to a greater self-understanding just like what Scott said. Abortion has long been an issue in our society. For sure there will be reviews that will say that abortion is not a choice but a sin. This movie will not force you or opt you to be pro or anti abortion but rather Juno is something or someone that makes one realize of all the possibilities in life that there are a lot of imperfections in relationships that we ourselves can make it perfect if we have the good disposition and courage to stand for what we do. In this way we are on the process of not only understanding ourselves but a BEING and DOING in the making.
Generally speaking, the actors and actresses were great and this movie can be given high recognitions for its quality sense.
After all, we viewers are just watchers of the creative minds of these movie makers whom they also based them on the realities in life. We all do get entertained the good way or the worst way.
Happy watching!
i assumed Juno was directed by the same guy that directed Knocked Up because it’s about an unexpected pregnancy, and Michael Cera stars as Juno’s boyfriend (he was one of the goofy kids from Superbad, a close relative of Knocked Up), but it turns out this is not the case