juno
Have you caught all the hype? Juno’s the best comedy of the year. Juno should take home the best picture. Juno blows Knocked up and Superbad out of the water. Juno is God and we are all but worshipers to its celluloid throne. Then don’t see this one. At least not until you can get past all that. Like Little miss sunshine before it, it may not hold up to the detail-oriented eyes of those with high expectations. You’d be doing yourself a disservice.
Diablo Cody is taking over Hollywood like the U.S. took Hawaii. At least that’s what all the lip-service implies. She’s busy and in high demand, yes; she’s a quick witted persona that screams for media coverage and flash bulbs, yes; she’s the second coming of brilliance and the new face of Hollywood writers; a little too early to tell. To say her writing is original is an understatement, but it’s just too soon to put her next to the likes of Tarantino.
So take it easy, relax, inhale, exhale, cough (it is that time of season after all) and try to be uninfluenced as the trumpets blare through the Fox Searchlight opening sequence. Here’s my take on it:
The story is original, witty, poignant, and hilarious. The topic is not an easy one. Take the easy road and make a sentimental mess and you’re selling it off to the lifetime network at a bargain price. Go too far with the cutting humor and you’re audience will remain too distanced to take any part of it. Diablo and the actors that portrayed her unique characters, play it perfectly as far as I’m concerned. The wit plays alongside the emotional almost enthusiastically. The dialog is brilliant and the acting is great.
Ellen Page (hard candy, or for those who unfortunately missed that, X-men: last stand) seems to deliver her lines effortlessly and with realism that doesn’t fit her sixteen-year-old character. Like Dawson’s Creek uses multi-syllable verbiage far beyond their characters’ ages, this one is filled with references, sarcasm, and humor that is far too advanced for the characters’ years. But, you don’t notice because Page draws you in past the skepticism.
The rest of the cast is top-notch. Bateman (Smokin’ Aces, Dodgeball) is always hilarious. Cera (Superbad) plays dweeb like Clooney plays egoist, it’s just too natural. Garner (electra) doesn’t suck as much as she usually does, but she gave off this creepy vibe for the first part of her on-screen minutes that is hard to explain. Juno’s parents are hysterical, played by J.K. Simmons (Spidermans) and Allison Janney (chumscrubber, drop dead gorgeous).
I liked the direction because it was almost playful. The opening sequence was sweet. Some shots almost had heart to them. The last one, and you’ll know what I’m talking about after you’ve seen it, is a pretty damn good way to end a film such as this. It’s a great visualization of what I can imagine was an interesting piece of screen play.
This is the most original set of characters I’ve had the pleasure of viewing in a long time. They are simultaneously extraordinary and believable. That’s hard to pull off. The clerk at the drug store does talk a bit too much like the high schoolers, but his character’s voice is still separate and his lines are so over-the-top that it’s not all that distracting. The cast does a stellar job of providing the realism that knocked up lacked. The writing has more of an edge, and is generally smarter than, superbad and the characters are just as likable.
If Judd Apatow had produced this one, he would have transmutated into pure energy and the massive embassy in Iraq would have exploded in a fireball of love. The middle east would have peace and there would be no poverty in the U.s. because one man would have brought us more combined love than any single event outside of Grenouille’s odor in perfume. At least we avoided that.
*****