Juno
| Year: | 2007 |
| Studio: | Fox Searchlight |
| Director: | Jason Reitman |
| Writer: | Diablo Cody |
| Cast: | Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Alison Janney, J K Simmons, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Rainn Wilson |
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. Hasn't The Chumscrubber and Running With Scissors taught us anything, or am the only one bored with these quirky, smart teen indie comedies with hilariously dysfunctional families and messages of true love hidden under a blanket of cynical self-awareness?
Juno (Page) gets pregnant by mild mannered Paulie (Superbad's Michael Cera, so wallpaperish he's almost not even there). She's completely cool about it, answering an ad for parents looking to adopt in a cheap rag which leads her to the uptight marriage and household of Vanessa (Garner) and Mark (Bateman), the intended parents, before everyone gets their hooks into each others' lives.
Throw in a bunch of previously corporate, name actors desperate for indie cred, a lot of arthouse quirks and a perky folk soundtrack and you have the ingredients for a film you've seen a million times. This sort of movie is becoming as boring as the blockbuster Hollywood fare it wants to be such an antidote to.
Jason Reitman's gone in completely the wrong direction. He should have started with this screwed-up-family-in-Middle-America comedy and gone on to the much more polished, mature and acerbic Thank You For Smoking.Maybe we should look more closely at scripts written by former strippers?
Juno (Page) gets pregnant by mild mannered Paulie (Superbad's Michael Cera, so wallpaperish he's almost not even there). She's completely cool about it, answering an ad for parents looking to adopt in a cheap rag which leads her to the uptight marriage and household of Vanessa (Garner) and Mark (Bateman), the intended parents, before everyone gets their hooks into each others' lives.
Throw in a bunch of previously corporate, name actors desperate for indie cred, a lot of arthouse quirks and a perky folk soundtrack and you have the ingredients for a film you've seen a million times. This sort of movie is becoming as boring as the blockbuster Hollywood fare it wants to be such an antidote to.
Jason Reitman's gone in completely the wrong direction. He should have started with this screwed-up-family-in-Middle-America comedy and gone on to the much more polished, mature and acerbic Thank You For Smoking.Maybe we should look more closely at scripts written by former strippers?