Juno: Movie Review

Eleven years after its release in theaters I finally saw a quite popular movie: Juno, the 2007 film directed by Jason Reitman (son of the famous Ivan Reitman who directed, among other things, Ghostbusters in 1984). I believe that Juno is absolutely worth watching. Let me explain you why!

First of all, Ellen Page, the protagonist, is fantastic. She’s credible as a pregnant 16-year-old (she was 20 at the time) and she’s a pleasure to watch and listen to with her funny slang (Diablo Cody’s dialogues are impeccable). The rest of the actors also play their parts very successfully: the father J.K. Simmons (Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spiderman), the couple formed by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, and Michael Cera who plays the only character fitting Michael Cera’s skills (he plays the same character as in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World by Edgar Wright).

The plot is also really interesting and never falls into the potentially numerous banality traps appearing as the story develops. It doesn’t get too indulgent nor too cynical, and it manages to keep a good level of realism: the story could easily be a real one. The problematic couples do not magically stay together, the problems of a teenage mother are not forgotten thanks to a simple “and they all lived happily ever after”, the father’s life lessons are well linked to his context of a divorced man with a shabby job… basically, we see a poor but good-hearted part of the US society, not totally unrealistic.

And then I liked the colors a lot, as well as the use of the seasons accompanying Juno’s pregnancy. And the soundtrack is really beautiful! Not only the music that we listen to, but also the music that we “see” on t-shirts and music cassettes appearing on screen (from Sonic Youth to Alice in Chains and Soundgarden).

To conclude, Juno seems to me a very nice film, funny but serious when needed, well made, well acted, and with a great rhythm. Worth watching! He reminded me of the most recent Ladybird (2017) by Greta Gerwig, but a little lighter and more cheerful. Ciao!

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