Juno (Ellen Page. Precocious, wonderful, confident, perfectly cast. Ah! I could go on and on about her!)is 16. An implusive ‘experiment’ with boyfriend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) and Juno is pregnant. After a few moments of minor disbelief at finding herself pregnant, Juno decides to go in for an abortion.
On her way to it, her anti-abortion friend Su Chin informs her that fetuses have finger nails, which sets Juno thinking. At the abortion clinic she is put off by the gum-chewing-free-condom-offering receptionist and coupled with the guilty thought of the baby having fingernails she changes her mind and decides to keep the baby after all, and ‘give it away’ after it is born.
She announces her pregnancy and the decision to relinquish the baby to her delightfully dysfunctional family, her father, Mac (J.K Simmons, splendid!) and step-Mum, Bren (Allison Janney, absolutely brill!She has some great guffaw-worthy lines) who support her without question, after they get over the initial shock, that is.
Along with best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby, cute) Juno goes through the Pennysavers classifieds and discovers childless couple Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) advertising for parenthood and after meeting them she decides that they can have her baby when it’s born.
As her pregnancy progresses, Juno begins to reconsider her relationship with Bleeker, a boy she’s always been attracted to but has denied having feelings for – other than friendship. She’s also forced into reconsidering her decision to place her baby with Vanessa and Mark when the couple turns out to be not quite the perfect potential adoptive parents she thought they were.
With a flawless script, perfect casting and superlative performances, Juno is a strikingly fresh and charming film that keeps you smiling throughout. It’s the kind of movie you want to rush out and tell, nay force, everyone to see!Labels: juno, movie review
