An Unqualified Review of Juno
19 April 2009 · 12:20 amMore than a year after the nationwide release and countless raves, I can finally say that I’ve seen Juno, though now I’m a little bothered by all the love it and Ellen Page have gotten; I just don’t get it. I admired the cinematography and the score, but I cared about every other character in the movie more than I cared about Juno. Rather than smart and quirky, she seemed pretentious, immature, and utterly naive all the same time. Which, granted, 16-year-olds can definitely be, but Juno felt more like a precocious 13-year-old than 16, based on the teens I’ve known. Juno’s been called a “liberated female” character, but I saw a girl who was emotionally detached from the situation and never really came to terms with the whole holy shit, I have a live person growing within me realization. Maybe it’s just that I’ve known someone who’s been in similar circumstances. I also wasn’t happy with how the film glossed over the realities/side-effects of pregnancy; the symptoms that Juno suffered somehow were all presented in a very cute light, like aww, she’s throwing up in the urn and lying about it, hee!
[Note: Spoilers following, just in case there are people who have not yet seen the film]
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