Juno (2007)

Director:

Jason Reitman

Writer (WGA):

Diablo Cody (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

A comedy about growing up... and the bumps along the way.

Plot:

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.

Plot Keywords:

Adoption | Pregnancy | Abortion | Best Friend | Suburb

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 49 wins & 38 nominations

Cast

Ellen Page	...	Juno MacGuff
Michael Cera	...	Paulie Bleeker
Jennifer Garner	...	Vanessa Loring
Jason Bateman	...	Mark Loring
Allison Janney	...	Brenda 'Bren' MacGuff
J.K. Simmons	...	Mac MacGuff
Olivia Thirlby	...	Leah
Eileen Pedde	...	Gerta Rauss
Rainn Wilson	...	Rollo
Daniel Clark	...	Steve Rendazo
Darla Vandenbossche	...	Bleeker's Mom
Aman Johal	...	Vijay
Valerie Tian	...	Su-Chin Qah
Emily Perkins	...	Punk Receptionist
Kaaren de Zilva	...	Ultrasound Technician

Also Known As:

Junebug (USA) (working title)
Juno (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | UK:12A | Ireland:15A | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Sweden:7 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43795) | Germany:6 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Brazil:10 | South Korea:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:NC-16 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Argentina:16 | Netherlands:AL | UK:12 (video rating) | Ireland:15 (video rating) | Greece:K | Taiwan:PG-12 | New Zealand:M | France:U | Peru:14 | Iceland:7

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Mandate Pictures

Trivia:

When searching for potential parents for her baby, Juno says she's looking for someone cool "like a graphic designer." In real life, both star Ellen Page's father and Diablo Cody's ex-husband are graphic designers.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Juno says "...and always smells like methylmethacrylate..." (according to the script.) She pronounces it "methyl methacralyte". Methyl methacralyte isn't a real chemical compound. Methyl methacrylate is used to make plastics, like plexiglas or PVC. Methyl acrylate is a chemical compound used to make nail lacquer.

Quotes:

Rollo: Well, well... If it isn't MacGuff the crime dog! Back for another test?
Juno MacGuff: I think the last one was defective. The plus sign looked more like a division sign so I remain unconvinced.
[Rollo pulls the bathroom key out of reach]
Rollo: Third test today, Mama Bear. Your eggo is preggo, no doubt about it.
Tough Girl: [to Juno] It's really easy to tell. Is your nipples real brown?
Rollo: Yeah. Maybe your little boyfriend's got mutant sperms. Knocked ya up twice.
Juno MacGuff: Silencio old man! Look, I just drank my weight in Sunny-D and I gotta go pronto!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "30 Rock: Goodbye, My Friend (#3.13)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Anyone Else But You

Thundercats are go?

This could have been a very, very good film. I enjoyed the basic plot - a quirky, tomboy-ish 16 year old discovers she's pregnant, decides to give the baby up for adoption to the "perfect couple" but finds that the perfect couple isn't so perfect - and maybe no relationship ever is.

There were also some great moments, and great lines. I like when Juno tells the baby's quirky father, Bleeker (played by Michael Cera) that he is the coolest person she knows, without even trying. And he responds that, actually, he is trying really hard (to be cool).

I guess that gets me to the problem with the movie- it's trying waaaaay too hard to be cool (by being quirky - yes I have used this word 3 times already, intentionally). In the beginning, a store clerk sees that Juno's pregnancy test is positive, and he says: "that's one diddle that can't be undone, home-skillet". I cringed. As others have mentioned, Juno has an "ironic" hamburger phone, wears "ironic" t-shirts featuring 70's era toys (Slinky), wears Converse sneakers, and can't seem to have a conversation without making pop-culture references no matter what is going on - even when her water breaks and she is headed to the hospital, she has the detached sense of irony to make a reference to a mid-80's cartoon, yelling: "Thundercats are go!" I cringed again. I get it - Juno is a hip, snarky, ironic, tough, cool-because-she-trying-not-to-be-cool chick. But she becomes a cartoon, a warped caricature of an actual quirky kid. I could not accept Juno as "real" and was painfully aware that I was watching a movie.

And that is my ONLY problem with the film. The other characters and their stories are amazing - particularly the adoptive couple, and the difficulties they are facing. The best parts of the movie are those few moments when Juno gets her uber-ironic self off the screen, and we get to enjoy the other, more realistic, characters.

Would have given this a 8.5, if not for the cartoonish-ness of the Juno character. Thundercats are not go.