Juno

For those of you out there who have fallen head over heels in love with a certain gleefully acid-tongued 16-year-old with a baby in tow, allow me to offer an alternative yet well-balanced perspective as to why “Juno” isn’t exactly what I would call the “bee’s knees.” Don’t get me wrong, I found this film to be very funny and delightful, but its constant reliance on over-the-top hipster lingo proves to be a hindrance to the complete plausibility of screenwriter Diablo Cody’s story. In her world, even the routine convenient store clerk is prepared to sardonically spew out one overripe zinger after another, so while I’m all about on your toes pop culture references, this was just too cutesy and unnatural to embrace with open arms.

The only reason I wasn’t totally turned off by this is the fact that twenty-year-old Ellen Page occupies the title role with such splendor and aplomb that it’s as if the dialogue is an innate institution. Her motor mouth precociousness interspersed with flashes of adolescent naivety is a refreshing sight to see in modern cinema, because rarely are teenage characters portrayed in such an uplifting fashion.

Juno MacGuff is clearly light years ahead of anyone her own age and her societal perception is one of derision and wonderment even while maintaining a schmaltzy side that manages to seep through on occasion. She refers to people as “dude” or “homes” and uses expressions such as “forshizz up the spout,” but is she really that à la mode? I would argue that she’s more of a hypocrite than anything else, but to avoid backlash, I’ll just say that Page deserves every rave review that comes her way for selling this stuff so admirably.

The supporting cast is filled with the talent of J.K Simmons, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Michael Cera, but Simmons and Bateman are among the standouts. Each of them have terrific on-screen chemistry with Page and their characters are (I think) the most believable.

I’ve heard many people herald Cera for his truthful depiction of nerdy discomfiture, but could he be any more impassive? He’s basically playing a duller version of his character from “Superbad,” so I’m not completely sold on his overall versatility as an actor. His scenes with Page are ample, but he’s just no match for her effervescent charisma.

As for the whole teen pregnancy thing, I felt that everything was handled with a little too much cleanliness, because Juno didn’t seem to treat the situation with enough gravity to parallel a real life experience. Maybe I’m being overly cynical, but I didn’t buy it for a second. When we see Juno riding her bike during the final scene, I couldn’t help but feel cheated by this absurd cop-out of a conclusion and hope that Cody’s next script is considerably less self-absorbed.

- *** out of 4