nan | 楠木

Juno is the surprise hit of 2007, and is already the highest grossing indie film since My Big Fat Greek Wedding of 2003. The box office success is more or less an indicator of its quality, and I was pleasantly entertained, though there certainly could be areas of improvement.

Ellen Page stars as the 16 year old girl of the title name, who finds herself pregnant after having sex with her boyfriend “Bleeker”, a shy boy “whose only vice is Tic-Tacs”. The pregnancy shakes up her life, especially after she decides to give birth to the child and give it up for adoption and she comes into the family life of the adopting couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman).

As a comedy, the humor comes from both the bizarreness of the events and the wittiness of the dialog. Juno’s dialog is especially entertaining (sharp and witty, with the edginess of adolescence), though some 16 year olds have claimed that it’s overworked and not authentic.

The whole film is well-paced and doesn’t skip a beat, and it’s a fun ride all the way through. That said, the film does sidestep some issues which it certainly should discuss, and the whole young pregnancy issue is portrayed in a light and trivial manner, which is somewhat misleading – then again, the film never tries to be a serious discussion, but it would score more points if it did throw in some more sharp observations besides just the sharp wit.

8/10