Juno. Four simple letters. One of my favourite movies of all time. Probably. Definitely maybe. Anyway, I figured I’d share the reasons why I love it, and give my own take on it. It’s not a review, because I’m not convincing you to watch it. It’s more of an essay.
Directed by Jason Reitman, the guy who later went on to do the great film Up In The Air. He also did Thank You For Smoking, but I haven’t seen that. I have however, seen Juno about...30+ times? I’ll get into why I love this movie later, first let’s go over the plot.
Juno Macguff (‘she thinks it’s a fake name, like Gene Simmons or Mother Theresa’) played by the...adequate Ellen Page (I’m messing with ya, she’s my favourite human being of all time), is basically knocked up by her childhood friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera playing the as always, awkward teenager. Hey, if the glove fits...) who is pretty much in love with her. It’s evident from the start, but I’ll go over that later. So basically this film is roughly 89 minutes of exploring Juno’s life and handling of her situation. There’s a fantastic little soundtrack attached to the film, and the supporting cast is nothing short of fantastic, from J.K Simmons (he’s that guy from Oz, you know, the neo-nazi? Yeah, I found it weird to see him in a fatherly role), the dad, to Olivia Thirlby filling in the role as Juno’s teacher obsessed best friend, Leah...something. I don’t think I ever heard a surname. And I would know...I've seen this film way to many times. Even Rainn Wilson in his cameo is great. Possibly the weak points would be Jason Bateman, who plays the role of the planned adopted parent Mark Loring, and Jennifer Garner’s Vanessa Loring. Jason Bateman is just...unlikeable, and after his spectacular role as Michael Bluth in Arrested Development (one of my favourite TV shows of all time) he just comes off as...disappointing? More on that...later. And Jennifer Garner, I’ve never been a fan of. She’s ok, but compared to the powerhouse performances that surround her, it makes her look worse than she really is. Anyway, shit happens, Juno talks in crazy teenage lingo that we don’t actually EVER use in real life, finds parents to adopt, hangs out with the father a lot (‘is that normal?’), tries to juggle her school life with the baby, hits a low point, quickly rebounds back and an incredibly sweet ending is had, where I cried. Twice. And again on repeat viewings. Not so much now.
Why do I love it?
I have no idea, to tell you the truth (cue entire friendbase to groan and pelt me with rocks). It could be the unbearably cute soundtrack. It could be Diablo Cody’s fantastic script that I can quote with near perfection by now. Or it could be the single performance of Ellen Page, who went, in my eyes, from ‘the chick who can run through walls in X-Men 3’ to Canadian treasure, and the greatest actress that will ever grace the screen. She tackles the role with amazing depth, says every line with a hint of sarcasm that works amazingly well with the script, and delivers a role that was easily the best of the year (in its release), and one that should have won the Academy Award, unfortunately losing to Marion Cotillard (the two would later star in Inception, the best film of 2010, so far, at the time that this essay is written in). Ellen Page is a bloody prodigy in her work, and I’ve quickly grown to love her in every role she’s been in. Yeah, even X-Men 3, the bastard child of the trilogy. She’s actually great in her few minutes of screen time.
So there it is. I doubt anyone else could’ve pulled it off, so if it wasn’t for Ellen Page, my love for this movie would be significantly reduced. She managed to pull off not only the performance of the year, but one of cinema’s greatest performances. Call me biased, ignore my praise, but that’s just my opinion...man.
And there it is; the explanation of my love for the film.
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