Over the Christmas holidays, Theresa and I went to our local independent movie theater, and watched Juno. I have to say that it’s easily one of the best films I watched in 2007. It was sweet, funny, and potent in all the right spots.
The movie Juno is about one Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) and Paulie Bleeker (the ever master of awkward pauses, Michael Cera) and their joint child-making. The movie takes place during the nine months of Juno’s wonderful adventure through pregnancy, and her interaction with the adoptive couple Vanessa and Mark Loring (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman).
Admittedly, not the most accurate portrayal of someone being pregnant that I’ve ever seen, but the movie uses the pregnancy as more of a means to an end rather than the focus. Juno (the girl) is apparently unable to carry on 80% of her conversations without busting out a (admittedly very funny) one-liner. Putting that aside, the rest of the movie is quite solid and worth every penny I spent on it. Juno maintains a good pace and has fantastic closure at the end, something that I have found lacking in recent films that I have viewed.
I do have to say though that I’m pretty sure the movie was written with Michael Cera in mind. No one else could have played his character better. I am sad to think that he has unfortunately type-cast himself to being “the awkward guy”, what with doing it so well. Shockingly though, his roll is only a minor one which I appreciate because it allows the focus of the film not to be distorted with his role.
The other thing that I have give mention to is the soundtrack to this movie. It’s a solid collection to begin with as it sports such artists as Belle & Sebastian, Kimya Dawson, Buddy Holly, and even Sonic Youth. What makes the album that much better is that after you have seen the movie you can tie so many of the songs to cute moments within the film. That is really what makes this soundtrack shine, though it’s pretty solid standing on its own and it even offers a cover of one of the songs direct from the movie featuring Michael and Ellen themselves on the guitar and vocals. It’s cute, if not a bit off sound-wise.
Totally worth seeing, and I implore everyone to watch it. It’s one of those movies that will mostly go under the radar from daily viewing, but is an complete and utter gem. Solid acting, cute story, and a wonderful soundtrack make this movie absolutely worth it. I plan to own it the second it comes out onto DVD.
9/10
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