Juno 12/19/07

The trilogy is complete. The year 2007 gave us three great comedies, all within the same strain of humor, but distinctively different and original. We were first treated with "Knocked Up," then "SuperBad," and now we have the completion with "Juno." They complement each other greatly and I bet it would be really fun if they were shown back to back to back at a Judd Apatow/Diablo Cody party or something. 
Out of the three this one is the sweetest. It has the least raunch and bad taste. Where the Apatow films are laden with obscenities, in this one they are mostly absent. Instead we are treated to an insane amount of slang and jargon, half of which I've never heard before. It's not really a regional thing, its more like the outcome of a really smart, courageous, and bored teenager that comes in contact with a thesaurus. Juno is a very unique girl. She breaks the news of her pregnancy to her sort of boyfriend in a living room set she has moved to his front lawn. There's a tiger rug and she's pretending to smoke a pipe. This is one cool girl, but its not like a "I'm so cooler than you," its more of a "I really can't help myself, I have to do and say weird and unique things."
The movie is quite the achievement in a couple of ways. First, the writing, by Diablo Cody is nothing I've ever seen before. She doesn't sidestep any sticky situations. Take for example, a really nice scene outside the abortion clinic where Juno has a conversation with one of her classmates who's protesting outside. Juno puts on a brave face and tells jokes but the cracks show in the frame. When her friend tells her about her babies fingernails, it hits her even though she tries to talk herself out of it. Ellen Page has her hands full trying to make a rounded charachter out of Juno's sometimes overburdening verbality. The script demands a great performance and she delivers. 
The movie also shows us divorced parents, stepmoms, and inlaws. These are situations that are in the real world all the time but are usually ingnored in movies. Diablo Cody shows a keen understanding of the fractured home landscape. She even concedes that a stepmom can be a cool person. Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons as the parents are very strong supporting charachters. Michael Cera as the boyfriend is inspired casting too. I have yet to see that guy in a sub par project. 
I have two more tidbits of praise and that is to the director, Jason Reitman, who I believe has overcome many of the mistakes he made in his directorial debut. (See my review of Thank You for Smoking). And I would also be curious as to who wrote all those songs for the movie. The soundtrack to this movie features plenty of quiet sweet songs. At least a couple I am going to buy from Itunes, especially the song the movie ends on.