Juno (2007)

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is one unusual 16-year old. One night in a chair with Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) changes her life inexplicably. When Juno discovers she's pregnant, her first thought is abortion. But after being totally weirded-out at the local clinic, she and her friend Leah decide to give the baby to a childless couple found right next to the exotic birds in the local Penny Saver. Mark and Vaness Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) are a Stepford Wives-esque upper class couple longing for a child of their own. Juno strikes a deal and with the surprising support {if that's what you call it} of her father (J.K. Simmons) and step-mom (Allison Janney), Juno begins her foray into pregnancy.

Let me go out on a limb here. Juno, at best, is an uneven, manipulative and a failed attempt at a Napoleon Dynamite wanna be. Director Jason Reitman tries incredibly hard to follow-up his debut success Thank You For Not Smoking, but this is an unmitigated disaster.

Ellen Page (phenomenal in Hard Candy) is adorable, but downright annoying as Juno. From the opening credits, we get Juno is quirky. Hell, you spend the whole movie shoving out 'quirky' Juno is. Oh, look, Juno has a hamburger phone! That must mean she's quirky. She listens to punk and she's only 16! She's quirky. Juno is hardly quirky--she's obnoxious!! Just like any other 16-year old.

The supporting cast gets to wallow right in there with Page. Michael Cera is worthless and for fathering a child, he gets no character development. WTF?! The adults come off strangely. Jennifer Garner is off-kilter. She and Jason Bateman are not convincing in the least. And when Juno and Mark flirt, Batemen comes across as a pedophile.

Overall, the pulse of Juno is awkward and just wrong. The flippant approach to such a life-altering event is insulting and not amount of pop culture drops and perfectly rehearsed 'indie cred' can make up for the film's moral ambivalence.

Juno is for the emo kids acting out on MySpace. It will serve as quote fodder for a time and then be forgotten much like slap bracelets back in the day.