Monday, January 7, 2008

Juno



Part clever indie teen comedy, part real drama about pregancy and love, Juno is a great movie. The script is really pretty terrific, and almost the whole cast carries it well. Some of the lines can seem a little strange or out of place, but it's not another Napoleon Dynamite, it's a smart, funny movie with a good heart. Ellen Page is very good as the titular Juno, a not-quite-so normal teenager who finds out she's been impregnated by awkward classmate Paulie Bleeker, played well by Michael Cera. I'm not sure if his character was actually supposed to be strange or not, but it seemed to work with the movie. Juno eventually decides to give the kid up for adoption and finds a nice couple, but things might not be quite what she thought.

Some people would get turned off by the whole quirky vibe, but it didn't bother me. The only aspect I didn't like was the soundtrack, full of poorly played music that wasn't that bad, it just didn't seem to add anything at all. It's very funny throughout, with good dialogue that never gets uncreative or resorts to childish jokes. As the plot actually develops, it gets pretty interesting, as you actually feel for the characters and when they mess up, you actually have feelings about it. The entire cast does a great job with it, and the conclusion comes a little fast but worked for me. I expected to probably like this movie, maybe not that much, but I came out really loving it.

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