"Juno" is a great movie about a young high school girl who gets pregnant and rather than go into a terrible tail-spin, she intelligently and with humor devises a plan to have a worthy couple adopt the child. A far cry from other movies in which a teen gets pregnant, "Juno" has believable and intelligent characters who complement each other perfectly.
Movie "Juno"
The film viewed and critiqued for this assignment was "Juno," which was produced in 2007 and is not an adaptation of a book. In fact the screenplay was written by Diablo Cody who received an Academy Award for "Best Original Screenplay" (as well as three other Oscar nominations, including "Best Picture" and "Best Actress").
The main characters in this comedy are: Juno MacGuff (played by Ellen Page); Paulie Bleeker (played by Michael Cera); Vanessa Loring (played by Jennifer Garner); Mark Loring (played by Jason Bateman); Bren MacGuff (played by Allison Janney); Mac MacGuff (played by J.K. Simmons; and Leah (played by Olivia Thirlby).
The Music was produced by Mateo Messina; Mandate Pictures produced the film and it was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Brief Summary of Film
This story involves a sixteen-year-old high school girl named Juno MacGuff, played by Ellen Page (who was nominated for a "Best Actress" Oscar) who discovers she is pregnant, and the father of the child inside her is an old friend named Paulie Bleeker. Bleeker has always admired Juno and in time they tell each other they love each other.
After Juno decides not to have an abortion she turns to adoption; and after finding what she believes is a suitable married couple, that couple's marriage falls apart which contributes to the plot of the movie.
Questions Answered
Is the plot convoluted or well-structured? The plot is very well orchestrated. What happens to Juno could happen to any teenage girl, and her decisions are those that a typical intelligent young woman would make. Those decisions made by Juno are made with no thought of doing what others might expect her to make; she dresses in grunge style clothing and is self-confident, which helps the plot appeal to the viewer.
Are the characters believable? What about the dialogue? Yes the characters are very believable and enjoyable in their roles. Paulie (the father of Juno's baby) is a track star who is very smart in some ways but knows little or nothing about love and sex -- but what high school athlete is actually well-schooled in these matters? Juno's parents are believable and smart, which helps explain why Juno is intelligent enough to deal with tensions with humor. Mac, Juno's dad, is good with the one-liners and her step-mother Bren is sharp-tongued, and both are believable. The dialogue is ideally matched to the situation thanks to the screenplay by Cody. The yuppie couple that wants to adopt Juno's baby are very good characters for this theme; the husband is a laid-back writer of jingles for television and his wife is an intense corporate type but both characters fit well in this film.
Are the actors cast well? By the fact that Juno (Ellen Page) was nominated for Best Actress shows how brilliantly that character was cast. Paulie is very believable and a perfect actor for the role he plays. The fact that Juno's parents seem a bit more accepting of this situation than perhaps many parents would be doesn't detract from the flow of the plot. The couple that hopes to adopt Juno's baby is well cast (especially Jennifer Garner, the wife) too.
Juno, above all, takes center stage with her pretty face, her ponytail and hoodie, and her wise cracks, which is quite typical of an intelligent, perceptive high school girl. Paulie too is an ideal actor for that role as he and Juno go from just having some teenage affection for each other into a more serious couple facing a more serious issue that could have been a tense disaster but for their intelligence and social savvy.
When Juno runs into Jennifer Garner (the woman who will adopt Juno's baby) towards the end of the film, even though the married couple's bonds are fragile so Juno may not be giving up the baby to a couple, the viewer sees how perfect a choice Garner was for this role.
What's the theme? Do other elements work together to develop this theme? Those in the pro-life movement who thought this film was about their particular political position are wrong. And those in the pro-choice movement who believed this was about them got it wrong, too. The real theme, according to the New York Times, is "pro-adulthood"; Page said it is "absurd" to suggest that it is a pro-life film. She notes that Juno had a choice to make and she made it apart from any ideology or political viewpoint. Directing: Jason Reitman made all the right moves, from setting, to actors, to music, and even though there had been 2 other movies in 2007 about unplanned pregnancies, Juno stood out as a comedy with class, style, and substance.
Is the setting effective? Why? The movie was filmed in British Columbia at a secondary school that is 100% believable as a high school setting.
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