Juno

Review by Loc

The indie-flick has been a commercialized vehicle for quite some time. After Pulp Fiction, every studio wanted to hop on the indie-bandwagon. And actors found indie-flicks the way to go in attempts to “stretch” their acting chops and be considered for cool golden statues.

Over the last decade, the indie-flick has evolved into a formula picture. Yup, the indie-flick is now as predictable as your summer blockbuster. Do you have a seemingly mundane plot that really only serves to show-off an actor’s “range”? Do you have a funky soundtrack full of folksy, artsy, plucky music? Most importantly, do critics laud your work because you present a life lesson without ever being preachy? If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you’ve got yourself a modern indie-flick.

So, does Juno stack up as THE indie-flick for this year? Quick hit: well, if being THE indie-flick means conforming to the standard indie-formula, then YES, Juno is it.

That isn’t necessarily a compliment. Juno is like any other indie-flick out there: semi-quirky plot, semi-quirky characters, lacking in the A-list superstar, but utilizing the B-level talent judiciously, and just spewing out the contrived dialogue without shame. Yet, if Juno is like any other indie-flick, why the big buzz around it? That is a great question that has no apparent answer.

For a quick recap, check this out. Juno is a teenager living an average middle-class life in an unnamed, nondescript Mid-West city. When Juno gets pregnant as a sophomore in high-school, her world is turned slightly askew. That’s when she seeks and finds an idyllic couple as proposed adoptive parents. Chaos and hilarity ensue.

Working hard to avoid the trappings of actual dramatic issues, this flick falls in love with itself and its clever, oh so clever, witty dialogue. You see, Juno the teen, she’s a funny one. Ever the sarcastic pod of joy, Juno never, ever, breaks a sweat. Instead, her growing belly is the punchline to her own jokes, the exclamation point to her own, self-realized mistakes. Gosh, it teenagers could all handle pregnancy this well, we’d have way more adoptions and a possible solution to the infertility that seems to have gripped all AM-talk radio ads.

If I sound a bit cynical, blame it on my need to emulate that feisty bundle of Juno. Or not. Cause creating a hip, young idiot doesn’t make a good movie or a good character. No matter how many critics say so. It just goes to show, good marketing can make average mediocrity into AVERAGE MEDIOCRITY!

The actors are worth mentioning, since indie-flicks are vessels for their creative spirits. Ellen Page plays the title role, and she does a good job of being sarcastically annoying. Was there ever a moment I felt compassion and empathy for her plight? What plight is that, the one where she had to wear a pregnant suit for a couple hours while acting? Because that’s about how believable she is as a young, pregnant teen in this flick. Not to say her sarcastic delivery wasn’t good, because she nailed that part down.

The other supporting roles are pretty good. Jason Bateman plays the really cool, almost too cool soon-to-be-adoptive father. He does a good job of balancing fun-dude and mid-life crisis dude. JK Simmons and Allison Janney play Juno’s dad and stepmom, respectively. Both show why they are extremely good character actors and add a lot of personality to their roles. Michael Cera of Superbad and Arrested Development fame, plays Juno’s somewhat-boyfriend Bleeker. He’s good at being awkward and quiet and awkward. The whole cast does a good job of what they were supposed to do in the flick.

Overall, Juno is like any other small, human interest film. There are funny bits and the dialogue is pretty sharp. However, it tries so hard to be hip and cool that if you listen and watch for more than a minute, you realize it gets old real quick. Which is funny, because most people who would go to watch this flick would probably consider summer blockbuster a mind-numbing experience. Yet, if they would get past themselves for a second, they might see how contrived and formulaic this so-called indie-masterpiece actually is for the genre it inhabits. Out of 9 months of pregnancy, Juno gestates for 5 months. It’s decent, just not super in any possible way.