Starring Elle Page, Michael Cera
Directed by Jason Reitman
Jason (son-of-Ivan) Reitman follows up his impressive debut, Thank You for Smoking, with an altogether different assault on social mores. He drops Juno somewhere between Garden State and Broken Flowers; but while the landscape and its personal tics are familiar, he populates the story with thoroughly accessible characters.
Juno is an ordinary, sharp-tongued adolescent with a hamburger phone and penchant for slurpies. Her boyfriend, Bleeka, is a skinny kid who lives in his bedroom when he’s not running track-and-field. Their ordinary lives become extraordinary when Juno’s pregnancy is discovered two and a half months after fumbled intercourse. Enter childless yuppies who agree to adopt Juno’s offering (her pragmatic parents stand by their gal every step of the way) although they soon present a new set of problems.
There’s a lot to like about Juno. A lightness of tone distinguishes Reitman’s mastery of this quirky yet subtle story, which starts with Page and Reitman and ends with an ensemble that includes the redoubtable Allison Janney and Jason Bateman. As the film develops, so do its characters, from hilariously glib to delightfully poignant. Best of all, it resists the political debate of teenage pregnancy to simply concentrate on what it’s like for Juno to be Juno.
Starring Elle Page, Michael Cera
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