Movie review: Juno

A sixteen-year-old getting pregnant is certainly no laughing matter. Juno, however, takes a look at the lighter side of an unwanted teen pregnancy and adopts the sarcastic ‘it could be a lot worse’ approach to the situation.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is your smarter than now high school student who decides to sleep with her tic-tac inhaling friend with matching burger phone, Paulie (Michal Cera), purely out of boredom and disinterest for The Blair Witch Project.

The movie, written by Diablo Cody, begins with her moving her living room furniture onto the front lawn while drinking a container of Sunny D and saying ‘it all started with a chair.’ She then takes three home pregnancy tests just to be sure she is actually expecting, but the results cannot be avoided or denied. She decides to break the news to her friend Paulie by setting up the living room furniture on his front lawn. He is as shocked by the news as she is.

At first Juno considers abortion, but when she visits the clinic she cannot bring herself to do it. Instead she decides upon adoption and picks up the local ‘penny saver’ magazine in hopes of finding the perfect couple to adopt her unborn fetus. After finding the perfect couple Vanessa and Mark (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) all seems well for Juno. She soon discovers, however, that she and Mark share a love for cheesy, old horror movies and the same rock music, and they form a seemingly inappropriate friendship. It becomes apparent that Mark may not be as into the parent thing as Vanessa is.

Through ups and downs and situations that a teenager would not normally have to face, Juno comes out on top teaching us that small miracles can come out of a ‘garbage dump of a situation.’

This movie will not have you rolling in the isles, instead it offers a smart-sarcastic type of humor that will leave you smiling and wanting more. Juno’s dialogue is unexpectedly sassy for a sixteen-year-old, very pregnant teenager.

You will fall in love with Juno, both the movie and the character herself.

Juno is nominated for four Academy Awards including best picture, best director Jason Reitman, best actress Ellen Page and best original screen play Diablo Cody.

Read about these 2008 Oscar-nominated movies
Movie Review: Away from Her
Movie Review: Sweeny Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

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