Juno

Juno
2007 | Jason Reitman

I decided to write review about Juno in English because it’s impossible for me to write it in Thai without being sarcastically rude. I believe now everyone knows Juno, this film just won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Juno is directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody, starring Elle Page as ‘Juno’ a teenager facing an unexpected pregnancy.

Juno apparently is a girl who lives in Lalaland where being pregnant is normal, and completely acceptable. (It actually does, on planet earth if you’re able to support your own life and your new-born child.)

Pretending to be a smart girl, she seems to know a lot of things beyond her age, the dialogue that comes out of her mouth is incredibly intellectual. She listens to 80’s music. (Let me ask you something, how many sixteen-year-old girls you know listening to 80’s era?, none? and do those girls own a hamburger phone?) She does talking about Dario Argento (Please, isn’t that just too amazing already.) Everything she referring to is nothing from her generation. Maybe she is actually from the past, perhaps?

However, I do love the scene where they are talking about superstar by Sonic Youth (from the album, If I Were A Carpenter), that version is always my favorite.

Jennifer Garner and J.K. Simmons as supporting roles is such a great choice! Without them, this film would be so boring. Not forget to mention about the confession scene, that is just top-notched. I guess nobody has expected that coming. well, only in Lalaland, these things do happen. Que será, será. The talented, Ms. Ellen Page successfully delivers good performance portraying a pregnant teenage girl but unfortunately fails to convince me to believe. (It’s actually quite annoying)

Juno probably is one of the most overrated films ever, considering its rating at rottentomatoes is extremely high. The other recent overrated film is Knocked Up, which I personally believe that Juno is slightly better. Two films share the similar plot of unplanned pregnancy with an abysmal story-telling featuring no-climax throughout the film. Luckily, they got good script, and the performance was quite entertaining which seemed to be the only thing that kept me from falling asleep.

Juno is categorized as comedy-drama film. But it’s just drama because I can’t recall if i even laughed. Comparing to last year’s best original screenplay, Miss Little Sunshine. well, I’d better not to. Just leave Juno where she came from, it must be paradise.