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Holiday Movie Review Roundup: Juno
JUNO (B+)
At least once a year, a film comes along that is so over-praised that the mere mention of its title starts to annoy me. The film is never bad, far from it, it's just that the actual movie starts to pale in comparison to the excessive outpouring of adoration and ejaculation. This year, that movie is shaping up to be Juno. People who have not fucking seen Juno are telling me how fucking amazing it is. Don't get me wrong! Juno is extremely entertaining and odds are you will love it. Hell, I loved it! But friends, can we bring it down a notch?
Much, much praise has been heaped upon stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody's screenplay, her first. She has even been called "the new Tarantino." Well, if this means that she includes a minimum of three pop culture references per page (everything from Thundercats to Sonic Youth gets a mention), then yes, that's an apt comparison. Otherwise, why don't we hold off on the Tarantino comparisons until we see the second movie she writes? What if it's another Southland Tales?
Cody's script is brimming over with great dialogue, but every line is so overly stylized and polished that it's hard to gain any emotional traction, especially in the awkward and forced early scenes. A line like "That ain't no Etch-a-Sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, home skillet" may look good on paper, but hearing it come out of a character's mouth is something different entirely. As the snark mellows out and the script finds its heart, though, some very touching moments bubble up.
Jason Reitman (director of the similarly over-praised Thank You for Smoking) is a very talented young director, but he needs to find his own style. The film feels so much like early Wes Anderson, you have to wonder why Reitman would embrace that even further by piling up the slow-mo sequences and including The Kinks on the soundtrack. Especially when the movie is chock full of so many other, fresher musical choices, like the wall-to-wall tunes of Kimya Dawson and The Moldy Peaches, a terrific little folk-pop outfit I once saw open for Daniel Johnston. Their songs practically are the film.
Still, Reitman is just fantastic with actors. Ellen Page, as pregnant teen Juno, exudes intelligence and will get an Oscar nomination -- which she deserves just for wrapping her mouth around such twisty dialogue. Jennifer Garner, as the potential surrogate mother for Juno's baby, will get an Oscar nod as well for her heartbreaking work -- she's never been so appealing. Jason Bateman is excellent as Garner's husband, a pretty terrible dude who scared the shit out of me because of how much I related to him. (Women will hate him.) Michael Cera, as the father of Juno's baby, is...Michael Cera, always a good thing. The great J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney steal the film as Juno's parents, and Simmons absolutely crushes a near-perfect monologue about love near the end of the film.
Juno is a short, breezy, smart little comedy with a glorious final scene. I liked it a whole lot. I just wish everyone wasn't pushing it to be the next Little Miss Sunshine (a film Juno calls to mind while never quite reaching its heights). You'll love Juno, just consider this review a public service announcement to not approach it like it's going to change your life.
Juno what I'm saying?
Why is/was the subtitle for this "In which I review THREE new motion
pictures"?
You're right about people praising this a bit too much before it's even
been released, and it's making me afraid to even see it. Funny how a
strong PR campaign can actually take away from a decent movie. Seems it's
being marketed as a "sleeper hit" before it becomes one - I guess that
gives people the feeling that they're discovering something that's
supposedly obscure and they're ahead of the curve taste-wise. The trailer
for Juno seems to be screaming "look how quirky and indie this film is!
Word of mouth, please!"
Also, JUNO played at SLIFF this year, but I skipped it to see
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464913/ (they played at the same time)--which
was hysterical--since it probably will not come back to American theatres
anytime soon/at all (although I could be wrong about that), whereas JUNO is
getting a wide release here and everywhere eventually (and SLIFF ticket
prices are kinda high for St. Louis, so I figure I save money seeing it in
late December or whenever it gets released here).
I third the Moldy Peaches love. First heard "Anybody Else but You" during
Murderball and loved it. Apparently Ellen Page turned the Director on to
them.
Pat this has nothing to do with movies or anything else you have every
posted about but I had to pass this website along. As a man with very good
music taste I'm sure you hate nickelback as much as the next person. Just
check this website out to find out how shitty and pathetic they actually
are.
Great review, man. Read all your stuff on Cinematical as well as here and
I think you've written some great pieces; keep it up!
Rob,
That movie is this ridiculous French comedy/spy movie, sort of a James Bond
spoof. It's funny because the French had this movie-spy, OSS 117, who
predated Bond on film, but who hasn't had a movie since 1970 or something.
So, 30 years later, they make another sequel, but make it a totally
hysterical spoof of all spy movie conventions.
http://www.oss117.fr/accueil.htm is a fancy website for the movie, but it's
all in French. See it if ya get the chance!
Finally got to see Juno last night. I hated it a little bit. Just because I
was with other people and was really regretting taking them to it during
the first 20 minutes or so. But it definitely got better. I still left it
feeling a bit resentful. I also found the music to be a bit distracting,
but I definitely want the soundtrack.
But we kept making Juno (oh, ju'no) jokes before and after the movie, so
that was good times.
And it was in the scene in murderball where Zupan's and his girlfriend (who
met at her previous boyfriend's funeral) are in the pool together.
All right, finally saw JUNO last night. I had the feeling, going in, based
on your review and other hype I'd heard, that it wouldn't meet said hype.
And of course, it didn't--however, it was not only adorable, but also, of
course, enjoyable as heck. I really liked the opening credits, myself. I
think Wes Anderson has created a genre, and while I'm not sure what to call
it, I know whether a movie fits it or not when I see it. #1, 2, 5, 6, and
9 on the list at
http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/10_films_that_couldnt_have (the only
ones on that list that I've seen) are certainly appropriate to be featured
as part of this genre, and I would add AMERICAN FORK (of whose opening
credits JUNO reminded me) and JUMP TOMORROW as further examples (having
loved both, mind you). Anyway, the dialogue in JUNO does sound, often, as
though it was written line-by-line to be comprised completely of
immediately quotable lines, and that is a bit tiresome (not to mention,
bizarre). You mentioned THUNDERCATS and Sonic Youth as part of the extreme
ubiquity of pop culture references hardly scratches the surface of the
obscure extent to which pop-culture-referencedom was heaped on this
script...I think at one point the widely-panned and never-that-popular 1999
movie THE BONE COLLECTOR was referenced, going so far as to mistake Denzel
Washington for Morgan Freeman in the reference. Basically I'm saying, some
of the references were so obscure that I had to pause for a second and
wonder "was that really referencing what I THINK it was referencing?"
Saw it today, I adored it. I liked the whole style, sorry! I laughed my
ass of and cried my eyes out. I even bought Rainn Wilson's Home Skillet
bit. Allison Janney was a real standout in her supporting role. Ellen
Page was beautiful and amazing. I hope we see tons of her in the future.
Funny, but I didn't hate Jason Bateman. I pitied him. It was apparent to
me that Vanessa sort of crushed him over time. His music was banished to
one room, his movies to the basement. She put her own needs first (it
seemed in almost every way). That does not a marriage make. He should
have told her sooner that he didn't want children, but I think that's a
hard thing to openly admit because it's so out of the norm. Perhaps he
didn't realize it until it became real. I sobbed my eyes out in the end
for Juno's loss AND Vanessa's gain. It was beautiful.
i was under the impression that Juno was directed by the same guy who
directed Knocked Up because it's about an unexpected pregnancy, plus
Michael Cera stars as Juno's boyfriend (he was one of the goofy kids from
Superbad, a close relative of Knocked Up), but it turns out this is not the
case