Movies We've Just Watched discussion
Anyone seen Juno?
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Kate
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Dec 28, 2007 08:51AM
There have been some other posts about this movie on some of the other groups I belong to, so I thought I would put it up for discussion here. I saw this movie on Christmas Day and just fell in love with it. It is sweet and hilarious. I was a bit worried the dialogue was going to be snarky, but it wasn't.
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Ed
I'm seeing it tomorrow with a friend. Glad to hear it was funny, because that's what we're both in the mood for.
I saw it Sunday and loved it, lives up to the hype.
My teenage daughter and I saw Juno a few days ago. It was beautiful, poignant, funny, well written and acted, and profound. Truly a worthwhile trip to the theatre!
Cute movie...fresh dialogue, laugh out loud funny, touching moments, realistic and flawed characters, great music. Juno will go down as a classic teenage eccentric...reminded me of Rushmore's Max Fischer.
Can't wait to see this! Glad to hear you all liked it. I'll post more after I see it.
Arctic, with your taste in music, you're bound to like it. Lots of shout outs to the music lovers.
Smart dialogue, winning heroine, achingly funny and very very real. I liked it a lot. Saw it with my 14 year old daughter and 20 year old son who both liked it and my husband, who hated it and thought the heroine was selfish. She was, but she was also 16 and messed up and very real.
I saw it, it was adorable that's the only way I can describe it. And yeah I downloaded the soundtrack like immediately after seeing it. I wished Jason Bateman and Michael Cera had a scene together though...just to remind us of the Bluths again.
I seem to be relatively alone in finding this movie mostly irritating. Quirky to a deafening degree, it's like being grabbed at the lapels by a particularly annoying adolescent who's determined to convince you they're the hippest person in their school. And like most movies that seem to believe that cultural preferences are a valid indicator of one's character, it's really not doing much more than dropping names for the cool kids to latch on to. ( And even then the name-dropping rarely makes sense...Does the fact that Jason Bateman prefers Herschell Gordon Lewis to Dario Argento mean anything? And certainly a kid who claims to be interested mostly in punk bands twice her age would have heard of Sonic Youth long before she ever tracked down Mott the Hoople...and would certainly prefer either to the treacle neo-folk ditties that dominate the soundtrack. And would any high school prom anywhere in the late 80s actually have played "All the Young Dudes"?)
SPOILERS...Robert, you notice I wrote that Juno was a cute movie. Which is not exactly high praise in my book. Roger Ebert supposedly said that this movie was the best of the year? And one review said that it refrains from being too clever...I'm not so sure about that. I'm riding the fence on the language being fun and clever, or hipster overkill. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
Also, I kind of got the feeling that the writers weren't quite sure what to do with Jason Bateman's character. 3/4 of the way in, his character kind of pulled a 180 degree turn-around. I felt like they were reaching for some plot resolution, despite what the characters might really do. It wasn't perfect.
Overall, "cute" movie, and I'm glad I saw it. But I don't think it needs an Oscar nomination.
getting the soundtrack as I post - thanks for the recommendation!I'm disappointed to hear that they may have overdone the trendy thing in this film. still want to see it though.
Mod
Juno is one of the rare movies that gets better the further into the film you get, instead of petering out at the end like many movies. My only major complaint is that a lot of the dialog, especially early on in the film, is too cutesy and quippy for its own good.
Ed - do you like Belle & Sebastian? your answer to that question is probably an accurate reflection of whether you'll like this soundtrack or not. I got hooked on them while living in Scotland, and I like this album. B&S is not everyone's cup of tea though.
My friend just e-mailed me with how much he loved this movie. I hope I didn't turn anyone off. Let us know how the soundtrack is.
Hey, I just saw this tonight. I have to saw that I really enjoyed it. I LOVED the casting! Amazing stuff. But I do agree with some that I think the dialogue was a bit forced. Witty & cute, but not natural at times. Definitely trying a bit hard. But I still loved it and was pleased with the ending.
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Ed
i just saw this movie yesterday and loved it. one of my top movies for 2007 - easy. and i'm happy to hear someone likes the soundtrack, because i was thinking of getting it on itunes. and since i LOVE belle & sebastian, i'm thinking it's perfect for me.
I LOVE this movie, and the soundtrack. Both are fantastic. I first saw Juno quite awhile ago at a film festival and I fell in love with it then, I think my friends and family got so sick of hearing me talk about a movie they had never even heard of. Now that it's finally out I'm like SEE THATS IT! I'm so glad it's doing SO well right now. It totally deserves it. And if you like true indie rock, you'll love the soundtrack.
I saw this over the weekend with my 12-year-old (loved it, discussed it, learned from it). It showed a tough situation in a completely different light. The language thing, well, maybe a bit overdone, but not far off. Juno was incredible. I only wish all parents of pregnant teen girls were so supportive. Also, Juno had the best phone ever.
Ha ha I said the exact same thing about the phone Beth! And I totally agree with Alison about Jason Batemen's character. I was a little disappointed that he turned out to be a jerk. I loved the movie and the soundtrack. It was a little cheesy how they started singing in the end but it worked.
Oh I loved it. I wish everyone around me was so witty in the real world like they are in Juno's world.
Yes, the ending....it felt so forced. Too "end cute" for me.
I saw that movie last weekend with my husband. I thought the beginning was a bit dirty (I am very conservative) but it was sweet, and funny and I liked it. My husband was wondering what point the movie was trying to make?
1) Overall, it was pretty good. I give it a B or B+2) The girl who played the lead was great.
3) Sometimes the writing got annoying when it tried to hard, but was usually good and well acted by almost everyone in it.
4) Before I saw it, I heard comparisons to Little Miss Sunshine, and when I had seen it, I tried to put my finger on exactly why I didn't like it as much. I think I figured it out. Ready?
There is never as much of an emotional connection developed with all the different characters in this as there is in a truly fantastic movie. It has some great comedy, some fun scenes, a nice story and good acting, but it never really made me feel as emotionally invested in the characters as it would have needed to in order to get a bump from the B range to the A range for me.
Great film, far better than Little Miss Sunshine, or the dreadful Knocked Up.Ellen Page was astounding last year's thriller "Hard Candy," and turned in good performance in the latest X-Men film, but this is by far her best.
This is a film about kids that exist everywhere, but are ignored by their middle-class parents.
Definitely the best film of 2007, with No End in Sight (doc on Iraq), a close runner up.
i think (one of) the points the film was trying to make is that you just don't know other people's situation. you start off with a teenage pregnancy of a girl in a middle class social bracket, which is something people look down on. then you are taken to a seemingly perfect home in the upper class where all of the pictures are lined up, fresh flowers are in pure crystal vases, and the parents have excellent jobs. anyone from the outside looking in would think this teenage girl was totally irresponsible (ultrasound tech) and that the upper class couple had the perfect marriage (juno).but as the film progresses, you see that this teenage girl really has it together and is part of a beautiful romantic relationship. she has totally supportive parents and is doing a wonderful thing by giving her baby up for adoption.
then, you begin to change your mind about the married couple. you see that the husband is really immature and totally not ready for a child. while the wife is slightly controlling, but will be a fantastic mother.
in the end, this teenage girl gives her baby to a single mother. and you're left feeling that's exactly how it should be. the film really challenges social assumptions.
I loved Juno. However, I spoke to some fellow adoptees who were offended that adoption was treated so lightly in a comedy. I will say this, these two individuals did not see the movie. I wondered if any other adoptees had a reaction to this movie.Also--did anyone find a gaping hole in the plot? I wondered why Jennifer Garner's character was surprised to see Juno at her house (either time she "dropped by") when her ugly freaking van was parked out front. That kind of "detail" does not seem like it would escape the notice of a perfectionist like the character Jennifer played.
I also wondered for awhile if it was out of Michael Cera's character's personality to have asked another girl to the dance. Then I wondered if he did it just to appease Juno (Ellen Page) because she had specifically mentioned this girl to him. Finally, I decided he did it to find out if Juno were truly interested in him. I got this from his, "You were not bored . . . The Blair Witch Trial was on Starz" speech which was really sweet.
Anyway, overthinking it? Just thought I'd throw that out there. (c;
Good points, Rachel. Nothing is as it seems, so no one should be allowed to judge. Let's just be good to each other, people!Jackie, there's much to be analyzed from Juno. I kind of felt like Juno put up a front of being hard, as a coping mechanism for dealing with her real mom leaving her. So she tried to lead MC's character to believe that she didn't love him in order to protect herself from being hurt.
I thought this movie shed a beautiful light on adoption.
Yes, I really enjoyed it when Alison Janey told off the know-it-all nurse.
Alison, I feel that this analysis of Juno's behavior was quite apparent in the movie. I'm still curious about whether adoptees found the movie to handle the subject too lightly. I definitely feel that adoption can be sentimentalized in such a way that it feels like a beautiful portrayal, but some adoptees (the ones who expressed concern, at least) object to movies that sometimes dismiss the "hard edges" of loss and grief. However, I feel Juno attempted to portray those as well. The ending might have been a tad Hollywood, but I had no objections. I thought the couple singing together was a sweet touch. I loved Alison Janey's character! Love her!
Oh sorry, Jackie. I guess that was a bit obvious. Not sure. That's a complicated subject. I'll leave that for the ones with experience with that. :) I'm glad you enjoyed the movie.
I loved it. I realise that people might have been offended by the light treatment of the adoption issue, but I am sure that some women have felt as light as Juno when adopting their child. Every experience is different, after all.
Hey Bad1news! I just happened to be here. Juno is no Max Fischer, for sure! Rushmore is one of my all time favorites...and Juno was cute but flawed to me. I do think they share a precocious intelligence and eccentricity that makes them cool and stand out in a sea of teenage cookie cut-outs. And despite being a "run of the mill teenage girl", I do think Juno's brave decision regarding the fate of her baby is quite rare. And I think that's what separated her, and this film, from the rest. Thanks for listening! :)
Haha. I was sitting there thinking, do I like this or not? I think there were hits and misses. But I will be quiet now, as I think a lot of people on this site really loved this movie. Glad to meet a fellow Rushmore fan!
I think I liked it because I was watching it with my son, who is a freshman in college, and HE liked it. Maybe I was watching it through his eyes. I think if I'd seen this one at home on dvd, I may have turned it off for a Seinfeld re-run.
Hi Bad1news and Alison,Just a coupla thought for you, coming from a woman with two daughters, and many female friends and relatives. IMHO, there are no run-of-the-mill teenage girls. Those years present an exceptionally tough passage to navigate. So many double-standards, double-binds, and just plain old b.s to get thru.
The language was smart and sassy and funny, the way teenagers talk. Even if it didn't appeal to you, Bad1news, I do think it was relevant to the movie. I don't particularly care for my mother and her friend's conversational style, but it is what they know. It bores the crap outta me but whatever, it's specifically generational.
Lastly, I know women in every possible configuration of this story; pregnant teen, step-mom of pregnant teen, adopter, etc. This film truly shows some new sides of the same old screwed-up situation.
Beth
P.S. I loved Rushmore, and I think teenage boys have a tough time, too!
Juno was a good movie, I have seen thank you for smoking from this director and i loved that too, So I knew it must be good, Ellen page is really really a talent , I saw her in Hard candy and she acts so mature for her age ..anyway simple and lovely movie overall...
LOVE the soundtrack, and the movie was alright. A few minutes into the movie I found myself slouched almost all the way down in my chair out of embarrassment like I was trying to hide from the awful dialogue and shots. But then it got better.I still thought it was trying too hard. I guess it's in the same group as two movies that I love, which are Little Miss Sunshine and Me and You and Everyone We Know. Those sorts of movies. Or, at least, it so desperately wanted to be like one of those movies.
I love Jason Bateman. So much.
I surprised myself with my emotional reaction to this movie! I too like someone else on this thread (sorry, forget who) found the movie improved as it progressed. The emotional response to it just kinda snuck up on me! I really enjoyed it, very different and fresh. And I'm glad to see so much mention of the terrific soundtrack which I felt carried the movie throughout.
I loved loved loved this. I have to admit to having some serious love for Michael Cera before I saw it anyways but this was just amazing. I loved the fact that it was quirky and Juno spoke exactly like I do now and I'm 25!I loved the fact that it wasn't a 'teenage pregnancy ruins lives' morality tale. I thought the characters were well thought out and well rounded and no-one fell totally in to any one camp. I also loved the soundtrack.
Responding to Juno, yes - it was a fantastic movie. I wasn't too sure before seeing it, as I usually stay away from predictable mainstream movies, but this one was truly a winner. The writing was perfect; the acting brilliant; and the casting superlative! I appreciated the way Juno was portrayed: strong yet vulnerable; smart yet practical. I fell in love with her character. I highly recommend this film!
I have a (mature) 12 year old son that really wants to see this movie and I've been putting him off. What do you think of this movie for a pre-teen boy? Is it too much a girl movie? Is it more mature than a 12yo would be able to handle? I'd seriously appreciate any feedback or thoughts on this. Thanks!~c
my friends tease me that i have no taste in cinema, because i like everything. so, unsurprisingly, i really liked juno.however, while i did like it for it's "cuteness" and for the quirky dialogue (i heard somewhere that the writer used to be part of the whedon-verse; buffy the vampire slayer, angel, etc, which would totally explain where that dialogue came from and why i loved it, as i am a totally unashamed fan of buff). but the reason i really liked this movie was that unlike some other recent similarly plotted stories (ahem, KNOCKED UP for instance) this one wasn't preaching about which choices were the "right" ones, or frankly, preaching about anything at all. you'd be hard pressed to find another movie in which pregnancy is the main storyline that DOESN'T take some sort of holier than thou stance, one way or the other. while i didn't love that she got pregnant as a after thought, i did love that no one disowned her for it, or tried to force their choices on her or anything like that. and i especially loved (SPOILER AHEAD) that in the end, she let jennifer garner have the baby as her own and didn't even see it or second guess herself or regret anything. no offense to anyone, but i'm sick and tired of pregnancy and childbirth and motherhood being this whole end all, be all of female existance. for some people, it is (jennifer garner's character). for some, it isn't. and there's no reason to force it or feel bad about that.
as for the trendy, it was faaaaaaaar less grating and annoying and obvious than garden state, or any zach braff anything (besides scrubs of course).
Cameron, I will leave this decision up to you. You know your son better than anyone. I will say that the only elements to consider is that the movie opens with Juno taking off her underpants and there is obvious suggestions about what unfolds in a chair that leads to conception. Juno also visits an abortion clinic. I'm not offended by these parts of the movie--however, those would be the only scenes that I would want to know about before considering this movie for a young person.
Cameron, I would highly recommend this movie for you and your son, especially since he wants to see it. There aren't any graphic sex scenes to be embarrassed by. It would be a wonderful way to talk to your son about sex without that uncomfortable "Health Class" talk thing, and no, it's not too girly at all.Beth
P.S. See my earlier posts on this, I have very strong feelings about this one. Good luck, get yourself something to drink before you go in because you will need it to stop the hiccups from laughing!
Chad, I gotta believe that every one of us has at least one or two absoulutely original crystal formations in them. I may not ever find them in everyone I know, but thinking that they're there gives me comfort!Later, Snowflake***
Beth
