The Rant: Juno

I was waiting for something big to get me out of blog hibernation and the combination of seeing Juno on the eve of the film recieving Oscar nominations for Best picture, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay seemed like a good choice to break my silence.

First thoughts: This film is like one big excercise of sarcasm and one liners as a defense mechanism for a serious situation (teen pregnancy) Since that's also how I roll, Juno fit me like a glove. As usual this is not a review, just some impressions. Spoiler Alert is on. Blogging cap on. Thunderbirds are Go! Thundercats HO!

Ellen Page plays the role of 16-year old Juno with a wonderful range and sensitivity. For the first few minutes I was worried that she would fall into the "I was a teenage Janeane Garofalo" trap, but that image was shattered. Her performance keeps you guessing and on your toes, but is equally engaging. Perfect for the coming of age story of a teenage girl who also happens to be preggers.

Michael Sera, who plays Juno's baby daddy, really needs to be cast as something other than the awkward, good-hearted, uncomfortable with sexual impulses teenager in his next project. There isn't much difference between his character in Juno, Paulie Bleeker, Superbad's Evan, and Arrested Development's George Michael Bluth. Still the film needs this type of character to work...I just don't want to see him playing this guy three years from now.

The dialogue is so over the top slang-mangling and sardonic that Juno becomes a Napoleon Dynamite-esque nursery for quoatables. When Juno becomes accessible at Blockbuster all your three-month-behind wannabe hip friends will say something to effect of "Home Skillet" or "Honest to blog!" and you will want to stab them in the eye.

As someone who grew up with a generation of teenage movies that portrayed adults as one-dimensional ineffectual foils for the know it all teen, I was happy to see all of the main adult characters given depth. they all have complications dealing with this situation and they all are sympathetic at appropriate times. J.K. Simmons of Vern Schillinger from Oz and J.Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man fame, plays a gruff but warm father, but I still half expected him to shank somene in a shower. Jennifer Garner slowly reveals there is more to her role as adoptive mother to Juno's child than batting cleaup for the Junior League All-Stars. Jason Bateman is perfect as the "clinging to the early 90's" guy who sold out and is reduced to having all the the things he feels defines him relegated to a spare room or boxes that are hidden away. He's easy to label as the "dick" of the movie, but I totally understood his aversion to the idea of becoming a father with the line "There are just some things that I still want to do". A bittersweet mix of both genuine and chickenshit at the same time, but I can relate.

Holy Shit! Sean from Degrassi sighting!!!

I loved that the movie wasn't afraid to take some luster off of Juno's wise beyond her years veneer. Her proclaiming the magic of '77s music scene when she wasn't even alive, her surprise that someone else might be familiar with "All the Young Dudes", and her emotional cracking when she realizes there are things beyond her maturity level that she can't deal with ,necessarily knock her down a few pegs. It sure beats having your main character lip synch "Shake it Up Baby" in the middle of a parade on a school day. Yes, once again, "Up yours John Hughes!"

The mood of the movie is set perfectly by the smother presence of Kimya Dawson on the soundtrack. Her sound becomes part of the films identity the way the Shins left their mark of "Garden State". Dawson, sorta-formerly maybe-still-is half of the Moldy Peaches, is just as quirky as the movie and creates an accompanying stream of conciousness that you end up sucked into Juno's world and situation whether you want to or not. Closing the movie with a cover of the Peaches'"Anyone Else But You" perfored by the main characters was absolutely perfect. Perfect enough that videos of emo couples performing their own versions may just outnmuber the "Soulja Boy Dance" videos soon enough.

I'm pretty sure that thousands of teenage dudes that left Juno with the same feeling I had when I first saw the movie Heathers. Ellen Page has Winona Ryder trumped with fanboy cred (she was X-Men's Kitty Pryde), and an Oscar nominatiuon. As of right now she is the defining young actress of her generation. The Juno Soundtrack is nearing the top of the charts, meaning the sounds of "The Moldy Peaches" could possibly reach Loggins-esqe proportions. Not bad...Society. Not bad. This almost makes up for "Snakes on a Plane". Now if you could just explain to me why you couldn't get behind "Walk Hard"