Juno is an Independent Film Triumph

I go to the movies every week. Normally we have to go into Boston to see the good independent films, but Jason Reitman has directed an indie film so good that we got to see Juno at the local multiplex that usually only runs blockbusters. Not only that, the show was sold out!

Juno is an unpretentious and excellent film all the way around. The story is deceptively simple, a young girl finds herself pregnant after experimenting with sex with her sort of boyfriend. Ellen Page (Hard Candy) plays the title role of Juno here, and Michael Cera (Super Bad) played Paulie Bleeker, the young surprised father. Neither plays the stereotyped teenagers of an American Pie nor a Super Bad here though, they play realistic young people who find themselves in a dilemma.

At first Juno considers an abortion, but is quickly scared away from this option by the depressing atmosphere of the local Family Planning clinic and she arrives at the idea of giving her child up for adoption. First she has to tell her father and step mother. J.K. Simmons (Spiderman, Thank you for Smoking) who I usually associate with the hard nosed Newspaper editor in the Spiderman movies was surprisingly Ward Cleaver like as Mac MacGuff, Juno's father. He is disappointed of course, but he helps his daughter as best as he can. Allison Janney (American Beauty, West Wing) was also outstanding as Brenda MacGuff, Juno's step mother and delivers some great scenes standing up for her young pregnant step daughter.

Soon, Mac and Juno go to meet a prospective set of parents that Juno found in the Penny Saver news paper. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner play Mark and Vanessa Loring, a young couple who want a baby. As the film progresses, we realize that Mark isn't really ready to be a father, and is a bit of child himself. It is Vanessa who desperately longs to be a mother. To tell you more about the plot would be to spoil the movie for you, but I can tell you that the movie left me very pleasantly satisfied with the outcome without feeling all syrupy like a Hollywood Happy Ending.

Why did I LOVE this movie?

First, the acting by everyone here was so good! After clutching myself in fear watching Ellen Page play Halley Stark, a 14 year old who turns the tables viciously on her child predator, I couldn't believe she could so effortlessly play such a naive and good natured girl in this film, but she did. Michael Cera who played the typical hard up and horny high school teen in Super Bad actually played the role of a real teenage boy who was puzzled and confused by what was happening and didn't really have any answers.

Jason Bateman was great as a real life "Charlie Harper (Two and Half Men)" writing commmercial jingles and pretending to be younger than he was. At first he seemed likable sharing his musical interests with Juno, but then he seemed creepy, and I wondered if he had seen Ellen Pages last film, because if he had, he wouldn't have chatted Juno up the way he did.

Jennifer Garner was outstanding in her role as a want to be mother who was so ready to have a child of her own. One scene in particular was very sad and poignant.

Another reason I really loved this film was the subtle humor. The deadpan delivery of many lines in the film had myself and the rest of the audience in hysterics. For example at one point when Juno is out late visiting the prospective adoptive parents, they ask if her parents will worry that she is out so late. She replies Not really, I can't get in any more trouble than I'm in, I'm already pregnant..

In another scene when Juno first tells her parents that she is pregnant after she leaves, her father opines that he had rather hoped that she would have confessed to doing drugs or something like that. Upon learning that Paulie Bleeker was the father he looked surprised and said Bleeker? I didn't think he had it in him. None of the films funniest lines seem forced either, they just come out matter of fact, but funny. The film has its fair share of scenes of pure emotion too. This is Diablo Cody's first screenplay. It was very well written, if this film is any indication, she is this generation's Amy Hecklering (minus the Look Who's Talking films)

Jason Reitman has turned out to be a director on par with his father Ivan. I have only seen this and Thank you for Smoking, but both films have made me laugh.

Juno is never coying or condescending or preachy. No moral judgments are offered up on teen pregnancy, abortion or adoption. The film just presents the story and tells how the Juno of this film dealt with her pregnancy.

Summary

If you are looking for an alternative to blockbuster cookie cutter films from Hollywood, check out Juno. Five stars.