Juno: You know?

Okay, so I'm way late on this post. Juno has already won America over with it's quirky charm, overstayed its welcome as that quirkiness has gone from endearing to kinda annoying, and (I think) successfully navigated that backlash. I can see where the haters are coming from but I was completely taken in by this adorable little movie.

In a bold but rather brilliant move, the film starts out with a jarring scene full of nearly indecipherable, made-up slang. The totally-awesome-in-everything-but-this Rainn Wilson stars in a scene that seems designed to make people give up on a movie that's hardly begun. It's almost a challenge, as if the film is saying "If you find this twee then you better just fuck off right now." But then it does something brilliant: It takes things down a notch for the rest of the movie. You start off thinking "Can I take this language for ninety minutes?" but by the second scene you're thinking "Oh good, the whole thing isn't going to be that bad." I know it's gotten a lot of criticism but I really like the stylized, artificial slang. Real slang tends to sound fake when it's not done exactly right and will eventually seem dated but fake slang can't go out of style because it was never used to begin with. Also, it mimics real relationships where every group of friends in some way develops their own language of unique phrases, common references and inside jokes. For a great example of how made-up slang can achieve this, check out Buffy.

I almost find it difficult to believe that this film was the work of Jason Reitman, the son of one of Hollywood's greatest hacks, Ivan Reitman. Look, I know Ghost Busters is, like, the best movie ever but that's largely do to Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, and to a lesser extent Bill Murray. But the other crap Ivan made? Junior? Legal Eagles? Evolution? Fathers' Day? Come on. But I really shouldn't be surprised after his son came on so strong with his freshman effort, Thank You for Smoking.

The kid also knows how to assemble a great cast. I was really impressed with Ellen Page's performance in Hard Candy (one of the most squirm inducing films I've ever seen) and I was glad to see her take another lead in this. It was a stroke of genius to pair the sharp, worldly Page with the sweet, hapless Michael Cera (who might be my new hero). Oh, and Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, and Jennifer Garner all rock.

See, that's how you make a movie.


"Whose idea was it?"