Juno: A Review

I’ve seen the movie Juno twice this week. I’ve always been a bit of a movie buff, kept up on the latest, and count movie viewing as one of my favorite pastimes. I even know why. The quality of movie cinematography has now reached that of our own dream life! So that being in a movie can sometimes seem very much like being in your own dream.

I definitely go to movies for escape. I go to escape my own life and be a fly on the wall in someone else’s for a while. I love to see what dilemmas they are facing and perhaps even get ideas of how to deal with mine. When I was single for a long time, I liked going to movies about couples to remember what it felt like to be in the middle of that type of dynamic.

So I’ve seen lots of movies of all sorts. Most movies about teenagers seem very lame to me.

Juno is wonderful!

It took me into the world of a complex and interesting teenager for a few hours, and I loved it! It is so important to me that a movie treat me like I’m intelligent and not underestimate how complicated life can be.

Juno offers no easy answers to the difficulties of being sixteen and pregnant. It also does not judge the choices Juno must make as she “deals with issues far beyond her level of maturity.” With fresh, realistic dialogue which does not avoid the complex family dynamics involved, Juno navigates through a string of very tough decisions with her sense of humor intact.

Most women have experienced that unreal feeling the first time they found themselves pregnant. Even though we all had science classes and information proving that it is really possible, it somehow seems amazing when it happens to you. Is it possible that a new life is forming inside of me? What a strange feeling.

Then the biggest decision of your life so far, what’s next? This, all under the influence of incredible hormonal changes, and usually while dealing with a husband or boyfriend who hasn’t a clue how to react.

Juno does work through her dilemma in a very mature way for her sixteen years, up until the time when her apparently mature and stable adoptive couple falls apart in front of her eyes. Then she loses it.

I can also remember specific times in my life when I projected all sorts of maturity and stability onto some couple I knew and liked, only to find them breaking up a few months or years later. In my favorite scene, near the end, Juno asks her Dad if it’s even possible for people to fall in love and stay in love forever. His answer is fantastic!

The best part of Juno is the writing. Major kudos to Diablo Cody! The music is also great! Go see it and enjoy one of the best movies I’ve seen in ages.

Tagged as: Diablo Cody, Juno