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What I thought of Juno
Lisa and I sat down and watched Juno recently. Unless I'm forgetting something it was the first of the 2007 Oscar contenders that we've seen.
The verdict? A good movie, but I don't think it was worth all the buzz it received.
The list of what was 'wrong' is short, so I might as well spit it out here.
* I found the character of Juno downright annoying and her dialouge pretentious, which is a problem when the whole movie's about the girl.
BUT I suppose I may have forgotten just how awful teenage girls can be. Come to think of it, they were pretty terrible to me in high school, so maybe the movie is spot on.
* I also found most of the music downright crappy, but obviously there's a market for poorly written soundtracks sung off key, and tossing in an obscure Buddy Holly tune doesn't change that.
* For all the 'he's boss' crud throughout the movie, I thought Bleeker (the Baby Daddy)was pretty much a thoughtless dweeb.
At his age, while a dweeb myself, I would have stepped up and done something right. Not everything, but something. Like maybe not take another chick to the prom while the girl I knocked up stays home alone.
* Rounding off our list, I thought her initial reaction to the pregnancy too blase.
On to the good:
* Jason Bateman rocked, and even if the character gave off some creepy vibes at times you can't go wrong with someone that opened for the Melvins.
* Jennifer Garner looked stunning and gave a heartfelt performance. I was impressed.
* I thought it was a delight to see a decent, loving father. I also thought it was cool that the step-mother was painted as an ally, not a villain.
I thought it was great that Juno considered an abortion, which was probably the first thing she'd have thought of in real life, but then discarded it as an option and faced down her mistake. What's the line? "This is one doodle you can't undoodle?"
* I thought it was a positive thing that the protester wasn't an over-the-top hateful kook, even if she came off as somewhat stupid.
* Best of all - SPOILER ALERT - I loved that the adoptive father changed his mind, splitting apart the potential family, and yet Juno and the mother went ahead with the deal.
Didn't you expect Juno to wind up keeping the baby? I did, and I bow to a screenwriter who threw me for a loop.
Garner's character gave off a palatable yearning for motherhood. It was hard not to root for her, even if that flew in the face of the conventional way these movies handle the situation. I might not have been able to follow Juno's example - I'm pretty much a breeder - but it was probably the 'right' thing to do.
(plus, totally independent of the movie as 'just' a movie, having Juno keep the baby would have made adoption seem like the 'wrong' choice. Worse yet, having her keep the baby could -conceivably - have made someone facing the same situation say 'whoa, no way am I winding up with my baby. Adoption is out'.)
End of Spoilers So in short: good movie, not great. 3 stars out of 5.
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Yikes! I did put a spoiler warning up there! lol
In answer to your question, every kid is different. But there is no sex scene of any kind (the briefest hint of a hint, and then for only 15 seconds), there's not much swearing that I can recall, and no one runs around saying teen pregnancy is right or ideal (in fact the opposite). There's talk of having an abortion, and she visits a clinic before deciding on adoption (where there is a brief sexual reference by the secretary) but there's nothing graphic there.
It wouldn't be my first choice for family night, but yeah, I don't think I'd have any problem with a 13 year old seeing it.
Thanks for the comment!
Dan -
Question...I haven't seen it yet (although now I know how it ends...lol) but am wondering if it would be appropriate for my pre-teen (going on 30) granddaughter who wants to see it whenever Netflex let's go of it.
Thanks, Joyce -
I must say I wasn't impressed by the tv ads. Your review clinches the "fagetaboudit" factor. I'll pass on this movie and watch all three LOTR for the umty-ninth time.
;^) Jan the Gryphon
http://journals.aol.com/gryphondear/Gryphondears-Word-of-th e-Day/ -
I haven't seen it yet but I definitely want to see it, maybe I'll convince my husband to rent it tonight; I liked how she did consider adoption rather than abortion and rather than trying to keep the baby herself to raise; as the mother of 2 children who were adopted, it "warms" my heart to see this side of an unplanned pregnancy as the "winner" as opposed to a girl who is still a "child" trying to raise her own child.
thanks for the review! my son saw the movie with some friends and he said "it was okay"; I asked him who picked the movie and he told me the name of the friend and it was a girl, just as I figured
betty
4/30/08 9:37 AM