Juno opened yesterday in New York and goes wider next week, I think.Directed by Jason Reitman, a script by ex-peeler Diablo Cody and starring Ellen Page as the title character, Michael Cera as her boyfriend, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as prospective parents.
Basically, Juno gets pregnant and when the baby is born she will give the baby up for adoption to a young couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman).
Superficially, the plot sounds like Knocked Up (the other unwanted pregnancy movie), but the films are just so different in style and tone that the comparisons are completely unwarranted.
Personally, I felt the writing to be a bit boring and contrived. It sounds like when 40 year olds try to talk as if they were 16. Weird, considering the actors are quite young. I guess what I'm saying is that the dialogue seems written, and not spoken by the characters.
The performances are great, Michael Cera is great (as usual), Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman is a wonderful grup, but I just couldn't believe Ellen Page's performance. There is something inherently annoying and obnoxious about the character Juno that I just stopped caring about her.
One great thing about the movie is the absolutely wonderful soundtrack of low-fi indie rock with many songs by Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches.
Whereas Knocked Up gave us a myriad of wonderful characters and silly banter all in service of an investigation into relationships, Juno just falls flat.
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