The Movie Filter

Juno grows up

December 26, 2007
By Jeff Roedel

New in theaters: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, The Great Debaters, The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep New on DVD: Eastern Promises, The Kingdom, The Brothers Solomon

Anyone looking forward to Michel Gondry's upcoming Jack Black comedy Be Kind, Rewind, check out these new clips! The film hits theaters Jan. 25.

I saw teen pregnancy dramedy Juno last night. The first 30 minutes was a jarring clash of crass humor and screenwriter chicanery, as if first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody was out to simultaneously out-do American Pie and show us how up on quippy teenage slang she is. As the film progresses, Cody and the wonderful Ellen Page as the titular teen really calm down, which only helps the narrative. Though Cody does write a laboriously numbing sequence in which her only goal seems to be to display her favorite punk bands and obscure European horror movies, at least the entire film wasn't screenwriter-centric, like, say Garden State. Juno's progression from sarcastic, self-involved teen to someone equipped to make difficult decisions with care is well played.

It helps that Michael Cera is fantastic as the nerdy father-to-be. You just want to befriend the guy because he's so honest and fragile and funny. His Tic-Tac fetish and track uniform with extra short running shorts go a long way, but Cera delivers as the emotional anchor of the film. His Arrested Development co-star Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner play the road-tested roles of the wannabe adoptive mother and her restless husband sufficiently without tiptoeing into parody, which lesser actors might have done. On the negative side, Juno's best bud, played by Olivia Thirlby, was pretty much annoying and unfunny all the way through.

Though Juno shifts from gross-out comedy to heartfelt drama on a dime, anyone who is a fan of Little Miss Sushine or Wes Anderson's early films will probably find something to like about it. On a side note, Juno features a handful of quirky, wistful strummers from Kimya Dawson and her former band The Moldy Peaches, a group I interviewed for The Reveille way back in 2002. It's cool to see Dawson and her partner Adam Green get a cinematic shout-out, and ironically, I'm guessing this film will do for their former band what Garden State did for The Shins. The two songwriters performed together at the Juno premier, so Peaches fans have some hope for a permanent reunion.

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