With a host of fresh young faces and a smattering of adult veterans, JUNO is a likable freshly-told comedy-drama along the lines of last year's ROCKET SCIENCE, plus indie faves such as LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, ELECTION, RUSHMORE and most of Wes Anderson's other films, all of which cast a subtly sardonic eye on American life in this new century.
Though the basic premise of a pregnant teen who wishes to give up her child could have been taken in many directions, the filmmakers wisely kept most of the scenario in the middle of the road, allowing the actors and dialogue to do much of the work of making the film an audience-pleasing experience.
At the top of the heap is Ellen Page as the titular 16-year-old Juno, a wisecracking outcast who has most of the adults in her world on the run. Sleepers like JUNO usually have clueless parents who need to be coddled by their wiser offspring - one can go back to BREAKING AWAY - and it makes for comic effect in this new underground indie hit. But Juno is such a verbally articulate young woman, she also has it over the adoptive parents of her unborn child, played very effectively by the super yuppie Jennifer Garner and somewhat misplaced suburbanite Jason Bateman. The former plays her role to the hilt, but the chemistry that Bateman, himself a former child actor, creates with Page provides the film with its needed center.
Certainly, Juno's encounters with her teen peers - including father-to-be Michael Cera - and various adults provide for requisite comic scenarios, but screenwriter, newcomer Diablo Cody's facility for adding idiosyncratic touches to Juno's caustic speeches ultimately give the film its best footing. In fact, Cody has written this film so interpersonally, one wonders if she wrote this film from her own specific life experiences. Expect big things from Page, only 20, Cody, 29, and director Jason Reitman, 30, in this or perhaps other genres which allow this distinct approach to storytelling.
Scott Essman
VISIONARY MEDIA
scottessman@yahoo.com P.O. Box 1722 Glendora, CA91740
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With a host of fresh young faces and a smattering of adult veterans, JUNO is a likable freshly-told comedy-drama along the lines of last year's ROCKET SCIENCE, plus indie faves such as LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, ELECTION, RUSHMORE and most of Wes Anderson's other films, all of which cast a subtly sardonic eye on American life in this new century.
