Juno

Woah. Honest to blog, is this film overrated much? So much has been said about this film and how amazing it is. And I finally got to watching it, and like Little Miss Sunshine, the film everyone claims is awesome is not only not funny, but trying to be disarmingly cool and failing miserably. A serious victim of hype; don't believe it.

You’ll know the story; it’s a poor man’s Knocked Up, with none of the laughs and too much emphasis on ‘cool’ teenagers. Juno (Ellen Page) gets pregnant by Bleeker (Michael Cera – the thin one from “Superbad”), and decides to give the kid to wanting parents (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), with or without her dad (J.K. Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney) or their advice. The script, written by former stripper Diablo Cody, won an Oscar for Best Screenplay. And what a joke that decision is. Because I could probably write a more accurate portrayal of teenage life myself as a 20 year old with no screenplay experience.

The acting is good in this film, that's not the problem. However, Ellen Page is not really that believable as a mid-teen, and has the most ANNOYING voice. It just grates and grates, in this awful monotone. And really, I just struggled to believe Juno was 16, and that any 16 year old speaks not only that verbosely, but can handle a pregnancy with such nonchalance. Michael Cera, who plays his nervous, awkward teen role once again, is fast losing his believability as a teen, and if he's not careful, roles like this are all he'll be known for. He does okay with what he’s given here, but it’s a waste really.

Jennifer Garner has never really been that effective an actress, but she does well toward the end here with a total metamorphosis of her character. Jason Bateman is really wasted here I feel, his comedic talents far too constricted in a character who is just too smarmy to take seriously even from the first time we meet him.
Allison Janney, as Juno’s stepmum, is one half of what makes Juno bearable however. Any woman that names her child Liberty Bell is bound to be weird (but then, we're in a Diablo Cody movie, so that must be normal), and she does not disappoint. I found her scenes with Simmons and Page to be not only more realistic a portrayal of family, but also far more comedic than anything else within the movie. As I reiterated about Janney's performance, and certainly to a larger extent, J.K. Simmons (as Juno’s dad) steals this film. He did it with the Spider-Man trilogy (as the newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson), and here again he shows his comedic prowess. Literally, in my opinion, these two actors are the only positive about this film.

The hype around this film is ridiculous, which says it all really. The music and the dialogue (which have both been trumpeted by many) were so, so annoying. Hearing the same piece of music three times in one movie, and then another piece twice, really, REALLY grates, particularly when it's this dreary, not even indie rubbish that us young adults and teenagers apparently all listen to. It’s just crap, full stop. And the script...Miss Cody: you're NOT a teenager. Stop pretending to be one and grow up. I'm sorry to anyone who loved this film, particularly for the "smart" dialogue. But I couldn't stand it. No-one, I repeat NO-ONE talks like this, and if I knew someone who did, I'd probably think they were nuts. Agreed, it doesn't go on and on throughout as relentlessly as it begins, but I just found everything Juno said to be, well, ridiculous. Best Original Screenplay my iPod...wow, look readers, I just made an original, witty, offbeat and popular-culture referencing joke. Maybe I'll write a whole script full of "jokes" and win myself acclaim too. This terrible indie drivel ruined what little chance the film had of making any impression on me. I cannot tell you of any friends I have who listen to indie music that's like this. The only song I recognised was that "I'm Sticking With You", and at least it wasn't repeated THREE TIMES throughout the movie. Yeah, it makes a point. Fine. But did you have to play it THREE TIMES?!

Jason Reitman directs well, there's nothing he has done wrong (it's not his dialogue after all!). But then there's nothing that really stands out about his direction, because at the end of the day the film would have been nothing without Cody's script, so he's really only the man to point and shoot. The town looks nice, and the snow was real in the winter, so I guess that it looked nice. And the credits scene at the beginning was original, but about the only original and interesting aspect of the movie.

This film is a perfect example of a movie that just did not at all justify its hype for me. People keep telling me it’s better than any other teen-oriented film, and that it’s brilliant. But after seeing it for myself, I urge any person who is not braindead not to watch this film, because it’s trying so hard to be cool that it just gives off an air of pretention. I never want to see it again if I can help it.

2/10 (and it only gets this score because I liked two performances, as well as the director only being the visionary, and not the script-writer. He doesn’t deserve the flak.)