 | STARRING: Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner |
I thought Juno was just the name of an email service. Now I know it’s the name of a city in Alaska, which was then used as the basis for the name of the title character of the film Juno. 20- year old actress Ellen Page, who wowed me in the film Hard Candy, stars as the 16- year old Juno, a quirky high school student who could never be a part of the “in crowd”. She ends up pregnant, thanks to one night with her nerdy classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera), and is forced to start making the tough decisions about what to do next.
A confident Juno walks into an abortion clinic, but walks out without being able to go through with the procedure. As a classmate protesting outside the building reminds her, the baby does have nails already. She can’t get that thought out of her mind.
Juno decides to put the baby up for adoption, meaning she must tell everyone about the pregnancy. Juno’s parents, played by J.K. Simmons & Allison Janney, are shocked but decide to support Juno in her decision. Bleeker doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Juno scours advertisement for people looking for babies. After Juno and her father visit Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), Juno is sure they have found the right couple. Mark is a musician stuck writing commercial jingles, who has similar tastes in music to Juno. Vanessa comes off as a bit too conservative, but also someone with a lot of love she is just waiting to give to a baby.
Juno is forced to grow up as we follow her along in this pregnancy. Mark and Vanessa begin to have marital problems, and Juno must face the realization that she might have to take care of this baby herself. She also has to figure out if Bleeker can be anything more than just a sperm donor.
Juno was probably the most popular film at the Toronto film festival. It reportedly received a standing ovation after one screening. I can understand why, as Juno is such a likeable, quick-witted, character right from the start. Ellen Page is sure to receive some Oscar consideration. The film’s offbeat humor is the type of humor that appeals to the majority of the film festival crowd. And all of the characters seem slightly different than what you would expect. But I personally did not find it funny. It’s just not my kind of humor. The humor doesn’t seem to cross over racial lines. I saw the film at a screening for college students. I was one of the few black people there, and the other black students were seated near me. They were bored to death while the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it. Ellen Page did wow me for the 2nd time, but I still can’t recommend that people see this one in the theater. Wait for the DVD.
No comments:
Post a Comment