Juno (2007)

Director:

Jason Reitman

Writer (WGA):

Diablo Cody (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A comedy about growing up... and the bumps along the way.

Plot:

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.

Plot Keywords:

Chair | Dark Comedy | Father Daughter Relationship | Clerk | Winter

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 39 wins & 35 nominations

Cast

Ellen Page	...	Juno MacGuff
Michael Cera	...	Paulie Bleeker
Jennifer Garner	...	Vanessa Loring
Jason Bateman	...	Mark Loring
Allison Janney	...	Bren MacGuff
J.K. Simmons	...	Mac MacGuff
Olivia Thirlby	...	Leah
Eileen Pedde	...	Gerta Rauss
Rainn Wilson	...	Rollo
Daniel Clark	...	Steve Rendazo
Darla Vandenbossche	...	Bleeker's Mom
Aman Johal	...	Vijay
Valerie Tian	...	Su-Chin
Emily Perkins	...	Punk Receptionist
Kaaren de Zilva	...	Ultrasound Technician

Also Known As:

Juno (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | South Korea:12 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Finland:K-11 | Greece:K | Hong Kong:IIA | Canada:G (Quebec) | Ireland:15A | Brazil:10 | UK:12A | Sweden:7 | Argentina:16 | Germany:6 | UK:15 (video rating) | Ireland:15 (video rating) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43795) | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:AL

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Trivia:

The "pork swords" on the track team were achieved by hanging balls from the inside waist band of their shorts. Director Jason Reitman then asked the boys to kick up their knees as they ran so the balls would bounce.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Juno is talking to Leah on the phone, she says, "It's Morgan Freeman. I was wondering if you had any bones that need collecting." Morgan Freeman wasn't in The Bone Collector (1999).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Juno MacGuff: It started with a chair.

Movie Connections:

References Suspiria (1977)

Soundtrack:

All the Young Dudes

The epitome of teenage inanity.

If you haven't been living under a rock for the last few months, you've probably seen or heard of this movie. First off, this is actually a very good movie, speaking in strictly technical terms, but I don't like it. The acting is good, with Hard Candy star Ellen Page putting on an awesome performance, and the supporting cast being equally convincing, and the directing is fine. But everything else just drags the movie down in a steep slide.

Mostly this is just too annoying and cutesy to ever be worth anything other than usage as a beer coaster. The character of Juno always has some sort of witty comment or snide remark, and - surprise! - all of the side characters usually do, too, and it is horribly irritating, a one-trick pony of a comedy cop-out that might make prissy teenagers laugh and feel endowed with a sense of superiority to their peers, but if you like good comedy, this will just come off as stale. The dialogue? MAN, THAT IS AWFUL. "Yo yiggidy yo"? "Forshizz"? And the overwrought use of "like"? Barf-central. Jason Reitman seems to think that if he throws enough pseudo-witty jokes and one liner cracks at a wall, he'll create a Comedic Masterpiece, but it just doesn't work that way. There isn't anything really funny underneath all the "hip" dialogue and the attempted wit.

The soundtrack is almost as bad. A load of pretentious, sappy indie emo rock crapola that will do nothing but make you scratch your head and wonder why it's there. Oh, is that part of what makes this movie intelligent and deep? I'm sorry.

But the real problem is the fact that this movie seems to try to be intellectual and deep with its story about teenage pregnancy and the emotional issues surrounding it, but the whole thing is encased in the sort of disgusting "ironic" humor that seems to pass as thought provoking and soulful these days - Juno trivializes these issues and makes them seem small and insignificant (Juno referring to her situation as "being in a pickle," for instance...), and that shoots this right down the crapper. This is too candyflossed and fluffed up to achieve anything it sets out to do, and so it is a failure.