Juno is All It’s Cracked Up to Be - And Then Some

Emily, Stephany (daughters 1 and 3) and I went to see Juno last night. I expected it to be good - but I had no idea just how good. I loved every single minute of this delightful movie, from the adorable opening sequence to the closing credits.  

As I’ve said before, I have a total fascination with words - whether they’re on a cereal box, shampoo bottle, Scrabble board, e-mail message, CNN.com, or in a Dean Koontz novel….. I’m right there delighting in their song and dance.  So, this movie, with it’s amazingly brilliant and witty dialogue had me on the edge of my seat.  My ears haven’t been that happy since the last time I listened to my favorite Motown CD. 

Ellen Page (Juno) is one of the reasons I’m so in love with this movie.  The 20ish year old Canadian is simply amazing, all 5′1″ of her.  She’s a breath of fresh air in Hollywood - a town that was long, long, lonnnnggg overdue for freshness of any kind.  Ellen Page is the next Keira Knightley and watching her career sholud be pretty exciting.

Michael Cera, who plays her friend Bleeker is also adorable.  The entire movie is perfectly cast with flawless performances by J.K. Simmons as Juno’s dad (he was also Buffalo Bill Cody in Hidalgo), Olivia Thirlby, Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner (who reminds me a great deal of one of my favorite actresses on the planet, Julia Roberts) and Jason Bateman.

I think the language and suggestions are a little past the film’s PG-13 rating.  In fact, as we were leaving, I double-checked the poster to make sure I hadn’t been seeing things - yep, PG-13.  Another woman exiting in front of me did the same thing.  I’m not uptight about language or things like that…but, 13?  That seems a little young for a movie like this.  But that’s just my opinion.  Then again, with the language used on MySpace, in IMs, in school, and on TV - there probably isn’t anything in this movie that’s exactly new to most 13 year olds.  Now I’m getting depressed.

At any rate, if you’re looking for a very enjoyable movie - you won’t go wrong with Juno.  Even the music is incredible!  I can’t wait for the soundtrack, the songs were as delicious as the dialogue.