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| Juno Grade: A+ by Phil Bowles |
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With all the hype surrounding There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, another smaller film was also being hyped: Diablo Cody's brilliant Juno. The movie, for those who are living under a rock (like me up until last weekend), follows a 16 year old high school junior named Juno MacGuff, who, after one bored night with her best friend Bleeker, finds herself pregnant. It's a fairly simple plot, but the character interaction, dialog, soundtrack, and cinematography all easily turn this film into an instant classic.
Juno is expertly portrayed by Ellen Page (X-Men: The Last Stand, Hard Candy). The writing, which at first seems a bit verbose, becomes very integral to the character's dry, dark sense of humor. While Juno may be a 16 year old, and while some of her actions point directly to this maturity level, Page turns her into a smart, funny, immediately lovable, and most importantly, believable person. Michael Cera (Superbad, Arrested Development) plays his character fairly similarly to his own work in Superbad, but that fits very well as the character seems genuinely confused and lost through out the picture. The soundtrack, which features not only The Velvet Underground, but a band who I was pretty much convinced would never appear on a soundtrack after writing the song "Who's Got The Crack?": The Moldy Peaches. The music interplays incredibly with the shots of Juno, her friends, and the adoptive family whom she discovers to care for her baby.
I'd recommend anyone to see this film. It was far and away one of the funniest and most heart-felt, and at the same time satisfying pictures that I've seen in the last few years. While you're at it, keep an eye on Ellen Page. That 21 year old is destined for good things.
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