Wrap this (Underaged) Mother Up!

Topic: Movies

Subject: Juno

The moment my interest in Juno sparked was when Ellen Page delivers this zinger of a line to Jennifer Garner in the trailer, "Nah ... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kinds of shenanigans could I get into?"

Ellen Page deserves all the acclaim she is receiving for portraying our unlikely heroine, Juno MacGuff. Rather than playing Juno as another disaffected teenager isolated from adults, she acts mature and equal, while speaking in her own teenage tongue. Declaring lines such as, "I've taken like three pregnancy tests, and I'm forshizz up the spout." Jargon of this breed could have gone terribly wrong, rather Page remains charming and genuine, while keeping the audience wondering what she will spit out next.

Olivia Thirlby also deserves praise, holding her as Leah, Juno's best friend. Thirlby expounds hilarious one-liners, such as "Foo get Thailand!"

It was a nice change to see Allison Janney, Juno's step mother, Bren, playing a real woman, as oppose to the mother stereotypes we've seen lately. We look for some hostility between Bren and Juno at first, but as the film goes on we see that there is a mother-daughter relationship there, built on love and respect.

Jennifer Garner looked great, post-Violet Garner-Affleck. Her character, Vanessa, the uptight adoptive mother we find annoying at first, we begin rooting for as the film continues.

Michael Cera is precious as Paulie Bleeker. However, he is more or less the same character Cera played in Superbad, just a different situation. But hey, that's how Jake Gyllenhaal started out and look at him now. Cera's past casting decisions were well made (Arrested Development, Suberbad) and I look forward to seeing more in the future.

Juno is a heart warming film and the conclusion of events is a happy one. I kept struggling to predict the ending, when it came I was pleasantly surprised for all the characters involved because you end up caring for them.

 

Grade: A

-M