Juno would've been the girl I swooned over in my high school years. She's smart, spunky got just the right amount of sassy attitude while still seeming genuine and honest. She's the epitome of every girl I was best friends with in school. Sort of the anti-molly ringwald (from pretty in pink). The girl you can always talk to, confide in, pull a sweet prank with and never grow tired of.
But what would happen if she got pregnant?
This is the central theme of the new film JUNO, due out today directed by Jason Reitman and wrttien by Diablo Cody and starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera and Jennifer Garner. When Juno Mcguff, a whip-smart and sarcastic 16 year old discovers she's "fo shizz, up the spout"(pregnant) after a night of boredom with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker. She does what almost every teenage girl debates in her mind, should she have it or the alternative? She contemplates the latter but the situation is just too nervewracking for her and soon she chooses to have the baby with hopes of adopting it out to a happy, welcoming couple played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. Through the journey of her pregancy, Juno faces a heaping pile of issues she deems "beyond her maturity level" yet she never seems overwhelmed or put off by the whole situation. It's a character trait that makes this story of maturity and responsibility deeply enjoyable.
Without impeaching my high school, I have to admit, teen pregancy kinda ran amuk when I was in school. Teen pregnancy is, of course, the central issue of Juno, and the filmmakers and cast handle the sensitive issue with aplomb and zest that takes a plot device that could easily veer into generic, lifetime channel domain from becoming all weepy and saccarine. Instead director Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman director of Ghostbusters) and first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody develop a unique, albiet odd, group of characters that are brought to life by the scene stealing Ellen Page as Juno and Michael Cera who gives Paulie Bleeker the perfect amount of shyness and geek that he's perfected in Superbad and Arrested Development. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney are just right as Juno's supportive parents and also enjoyable are Garner and Bateman as the cookie-cutter yuppies who are anxiously awaiting Juno's baby. Both Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner deliver two of the best performances in this sweet and sincere film. Page's precocious and snarky teen is the perfect antithesis to Garner's upright, susie homemaker mom-to-be. These two gals would be remissed if they weren't acknowledged for what they brought to the table in this film.
With the latest headlines screaming about the youngest Spears girl and her teen pregnancy, some might say Juno encourages such behavior. They would be wrong. It never overlooks the consequences of Juno's decision or her behavior. She suffers the isolation from her classmates who look at her as a cautionary example and with mocking glances. At the same time she feels left out of the finer things a high schooler gets to experience. Missing her prom, her friends accomplishments. The film shows the warts and all of a situation like teen pregnancy. If some attempt to compare this to the awe-shucks geekness of a film like Napolean Dynomite they couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, Juno is a film filled with unique characters, a heartfelt and sincerely funny film that had me leaving the theater uplifted, happy and most of all glad to have experienced such an enjoyable film.
Till next time,
Chaz