Juno

Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner
Director: Jason Reitman

Juno is a sixteen year old teenage girl who would be considered a slacker I suppose. She has a quick wit and very dry sense of humor, but somehow you can't help but love her. Her best friend is a boy by the name of Paulie Bleeker who by appearances is this tall, skinny geek who is on the schools track team. At the beginning of the movie Juno takes a pregnancy test and guess what - it's positive. She breaks the news to Bleeker because he is her best friend as well as the baby's father. Bleeker wasn't your average teenage boy though; he was always there for Juno and you can clearly see that he was in love with her. Juno being the emotionally unavailable girl couldn't see it though.

The relationship between her father and step-mother is that of most teenagers; not really communicating that much, at times being off in her own world. Never really spending any quality time with them except while eating at the dinner table. Juno didn't hate her step-mother but as you will see when watching this movie she loved to give her grief. When she tells them about her pregnancy they take it very well, but after she leaves the room they speak amongst themselves saying that the thought of her being pregnant was a possibility. They were hoping it was drug addiction or the fact that she had been expelled form school. Statements like this really make you appreciate the over the charts dialog in this movie. There were some lines in this film that made me go what the......! One of my favorite scenes is when Juno and her father are having a heart to heart talk in the kitchen, and she asks is it possible for two people to be happy together forever.

Juno decides to give the baby up for adoption, and searches in the penny saver for a couple that will give the baby a good home. Vanessa and Mark Loring seem like the appropriate couple, so Juno and her father have a meeting with them. They have been trying to have a baby for a very long time, and when Juno comes along she seems like the answer to their prayers. They are of course leery of the fact that she will change her mind, because they tried to adopt before and the girl changed her mind at the last minute. She reassures them by saying she is 104% positive, and doesn't opt for the open adoption; it's just better for her that way.

During one of her doctor visits Juno gets a chance to see the baby and the Ultrasound Technician says some very harsh things, but her step-mother rectifies the situation. Every now and then people give her cold stares, and looks of disgust due to her condition, but she never lets it get to her. There was a brief moment when it looks as though Juno may have second thoughts about the adoption, but after seeing the joy on Vanessa's face she knows it shouldn't be any other way.

There was a very cute song in the film titled "Anyone Else But You", by a group named The Moldy Peaches. It's a very catchy little tune, and the line that really sold me on it was:

Here is the church and here is the steeple, we sure are cute for two ugly people

Check it out on youtube if you'd like to hear the whole song.

Fun Fact : At the end of the movie Ellen Page and Michael Cera actually sing it.

Juno was a wonderful movie!!!!! I will definitely buy this when it's available on dvd.