One bump at a time

by PRANAYA SJB RANA

FROM ISSUE # 148 (April 2008) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman
Length: 92 mins
Rating: 4/5

There's something about Juno MacGuff. And it's not just to do with her sharp tongue, ready wit or even her pregnant belly. It's something elusive, like something on the tip of your tongue that refuses to materialise. She exudes charm, and although facing the worst of teenage problems, she handles it the way she handles everything else: head-on and with unrestrained sarcasm.

Director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody present Juno, a coming-of-age tale about one pregnant teen and the world around her.

After a bored sexual encounter with friend Bleek (Michael Cera), Juno (Ellen Page) finds herself "in trouble." An abortion clinic hands her flavoured condoms and forms to fill out. Disillusioned with its casual attitude, she decides to give the baby up for adoption and even finds the perfect parents: Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), a rich, suburban couple. She breaks the news to her father and stepmother, who are supportive without losing their wry sense of humour. 

Although the adoptive parents seem perfect, too soon the cracks begin to show. Mark is held back by dreams of being a rock star and for a brief moment, there springs up an attraction between him and Juno. Juno discovers much to her chagrin, that love, like everything else, is no easy feat. So she bulldozes her way through it all, her unfailing wit and ready tongue lashing out at everyone and everything. But it is obvious that no matter how strong she may act, she is still a teenager, prematurely confronting a problem that is bigger than her.

As a feel-good movie, Juno is as sentimental as they come. But director Reitman knows just which heartstrings to pull without making anything seem campy and sentimental. Reitman doesn't play puppeteer, but lets us see and feel for ourselves. Ex-stripper Diablo Cody's script is dynamite. Quick, witty, and funny, the dialogue sizzles. There are no lectures and no epiphanies; everything is unbelievably fresh.

Every time Juno is on the street, a team of runners in identical uniforms rush past her. Maybe they stand for everyone else, the world that passes by pregnant Juno. For Juno is not your typical teen. She doesn't succumb to our own teenage foibles nor does she dress or act to please. She is a force of her own reckoning. You can see it in the way she pushes her pregnant stomach forward, parting the crowd of high school gawkers with ease. She notices their stares, their whispers but doesn't let them affect her.

As far as acting goes, Ellen Page is perfect, delivering Juno's lines with point precision, unfalteringly. Page embodies an unflinching Juno with her passion for Iggy Pop and old slasher flicks. Ellen Page's Juno is strange, quirky and just the more endearing. Cera, as the awkward Bleek, is almost as charming as Juno, in his own bumbling way. It is a delight to watch Juno and Bleek exchange barbs while trying to hide the emotions welling up inside them.

Juno has been called one of the best movies of 2007 and it is. For a low-budget indie flick, in the tradition of Garden State and Little Miss Sunshine, Juno manages to steal our hearts, easily.