Juno

Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Thirby

Written by: Diablo Cody

Directed by: Jason Bateman

Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Rated: PG-13

Thank goodness for the movie multiplex (or googolplex as it is now). With so many screens in one place, more movies like Juno that deserve of a wider audience are picked up by chance-taking distributors like Fox Searchlight Pictures and shown by theater owners like Marcus Corporation. The quirky comedy certainly fills a gap in the current holiday schedule of movies (in the category ‘quirky and touching comedy about teenage pregnancy’), and audiences are giving it a whirl.

Juno (Ellen Page), the titular 16-year-old heroine and centerpiece of this film, is an extroverted and aggressive young woman who gets pregnant upon deflowering her timid but cute schoolmate Paulie Bleeker (a typecast but sublime Michael Cera of Superbad). After a failed attempt to take care of the matter at a rundown Women’s Clinic, she decides to bring the baby to term and give it up for adoption. She finds the seemingly perfect couple in Vanessa and Mark (played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) for the baby’s better life. This is all before she even tells her parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) or the baby’s father. So there’s a lot going on in this 91 minute tale.

On top of it all is an acute script written by famed stripper/ad-agent/author/blogger Diablo Cody. It practically falls on top of itself with clever dialogue and sub-culture pop references, which for a time seem like they might derail the enjoyment of the story. Note that the film was shot mostly in British Columbia and Vancouver – not far from uber-hip Seattle, Washington. But Cody hails from Chicago and now Minnesota, so it’s interesting to note that she has both the perversion of the Midwest and its seasonal changes, moods and environments.

The cinematography and editing is nice but breaks no new ground for indie or arthouse filmmaking. The soundtrack is invasive, as present as anything Wes Anderson does, but with more of a coffeehouse open-mic waif quality.

What the movie does get right, and gets right in spades – rendering all the other questionable elements null – is the acting. Ellen Page first displayed her acting force two years ago in Hard Candy, a cautionary tale that seemed to be a castigating feminist response to David Mamet and Neil LaBute. In Juno she again plays a spunky woman sharply aware of her ability to speak out and act without repercussion under the protections and allowances that society grants juveniles. But this time there is a consequence to be paid, and Juno handles it in a manner that can only be described as ‘cavalier’.

We learn through conversations and flashbacks that Juno is the one who instigates the destruction of Bleeker’s virginity out of boredom; she’s trying to wrest him from boyhood into the image of a man she desires. She wears ironic t-shirts over the baby bulge (‘Slinky, it’s a wonderful toy for a girl and a boy’). She becomes friendly with the adoptive dad through their punk musical tastes, but in the end makes him realize the life he gave up for financial success, putting his marriage in jeopardy and Juno in peril.

The movie wants to be a drama about teenage pregnancy and responsibility; it could have been like something from the Lifetime Network but has too much soul and flavor going for it to end up there. It deals with the subject in a very modern way that today’s teens can get without making parents or anyone else out to be the bad guy. Mistakes are made, and dramedy ensues.

It’s a likeable film with happy endings for most all around, a tale of endurance and hope without all the melodrama. But mostly it’s another example of an honest indie film done right. Studios often try to manufacture the template but can never seem to master the pacing or tone. It seems to only be something the youth of America can replicate. VS