REVIEW: Juno

A film about teenage pregnancy is typically not something we would rent especially when we could find similar made-for-tv-movies on the Lifetime Network.

However, given the reviews of the movie Juno, what promised to be an entertaining cast, and the Oscar buzz from this past year regarding Best Original Screenplay all seemed to indicate that this one could be a winner.

Watch Trailer.

WIFEY'S REVIEW

This movie I thought was going to be good seeing it had a couple of the people from Arrested Development, but boy was I wrong! Ok, here’s the gist on what this movie was about…

Juno (Ellen Page) gets pregnant from Paulie (Michael Cera) and she chooses to keep the baby and find a good home for the little bundle of joy. In the meantime, Paulie’s mother hates her and doesn’t want her son to have anything to do with Juno. Your classic drama and tension filled movie.

Ok, so the Juno character is supposed to be 16 in this film although the way she talks it’s like she’s 30! I hate that it wasn’t realistic at all then again I never got pregnant at 16 in today's world. Juno’s father and stepmom didn’t even seem like they were mad or even concerned about her being pregnant.

Juno goes through the paper to find parents for her baby (who just randomly picks from a paper???) so she finds this really nice couple (or you think they are) and Juno goes to meet them for the first time and it was really akward seeing that.

There she was with her father and the new couple and a lawyer. The new dad Mark (Jason Bateman) was not even interested about this at all he was totally in lala land and the wife Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) was so excited.

Juno picks them and goes to see them throughout her pregnancy, but while going there Mark seems to be hitting on Juno. So gross to me seeing how much older he is to her in this role. She looks at it as he’s being nice until he springs the news on her (now you don’t think I would give away exactly how that happens do you???).

Overall, I thought this movie was very lame and I have to say it did have a happy ending, which made up for the whole beginning part of it.

Still, only 1.5 Ben & Jerry's ice creams out of 5 for me.


HUBBY'S REVIEW

Here's the thing. I'm always skeptical and hesitant to watch anything Hollywood puts out that has to do with pregnancy or parenting. Being a father of two little ones myself, I've gotten more than a little annoyed by the constant message that kids are a burden and that they should be treated as nothing more than pets and accessories.

Sadly, however, that's the world we live in these days. When young kids think it's "cool" and fashionable to have a baby bump and a child without getting married first there's a problem. I realize that life happens, but why is it that Hollywood always elects to tell the negative, sad, abnormally abhorrent story instead of the positive, happy, and uplifting ones?

Ok, I'm done now.

I agree with Wifey that despite the subject matter (and from what we knew about the film heading into it) I was excited to see this funny cast in action. Too bad it was too smart for it's own good within the first 2 minutes through to the end!

If you thought Dawson's Creek was bad with all the brainy, sophisticated, eloquent teenagers running around then you haven't seen this yet! The Juno character was ridiculously over-the-top with the vocab she used when talking to friends and family. Even her best friend who was typecast as the "dumb-goofy-sidekick-buddy" talked using words many 16-year-olds have never even read or heard of.

Aside from that, I was surprised that teenage pregnancy wasn't glorified and that it was toned down quite a bit. The way they handled the relationship between mom-to-be and dad-to-be I felt was accurate and spot on to how teenagers would handle themselves in that situation.

Without giving anything away (and I'm sure many of you already know the basic premise and storyline), it was also refreshing to see a popular mainstream film about an unexpected pregnancy end with the parents giving the child up for adoption rather than get rid of their "problem" by having an abortion or leaving the baby in a dumpster.

Personally, I did not share in the same "buzz" as others did so I give it 2 Ben & Jerry's out of 5 bringing the offical Our Movie Date Rating to 1.75 Ben & Jerry's.