So, Juno Sucked, Right?
Maybe it's because I've recently seen five of the most amazing films ever (There Will Be Blood, The Savages, Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I'm Not There, No Country for Old Men). Or maybe it's because my tolerance for too-clever dialogue is low. Or maybe it's because the hype machine blew it way out of proportion by the time I got around to seeing it.
But I gotta say, Juno kinda sucked.
Which is a shame, because I was way pumped to see it. The preview looked fantastic; the concept was genius; the backstory about stripper/blogger-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody; Michael Cera and Jason Bateman on the same screen again. But we (me, my wife, and a friend who joined us) were all were a little perplexed by the whole thing.
I mean, did anyone else notice the following:
1) The fifteen minutes of horrendous one-liners at the beginning of the movie (that should have been cut by the screenplay's second draft, if it even had one)
2) That the secretary at the abortion clinic and the pro-life girl were complete, overblown cliches
3) That the divorce scene between Bateman and Garner was completely lifeless
4) That there is no way in hell Juno's dad, who professes a love for heating & conditioning, would have an interest in Greek mythology, thereby inspiring his daughter's name.
5) That Michael Cera demonstrated zero love for Juno throughout the movie and suddenly, by the end of it, they've been in love the whole time (Aww...)
There were so many other problems I could name. But mostly, it had to do with bad dialogue, a lack of consistency, a litter of cliches, and just a poor plot overall. Strangely enough Jennifer "Alias" Garner was the only consistent character out of the whole bunch.
If you're looking for really great works of art about similarly minded teenage girls but featuring none of the above, try Freak and Geeks (whose Linda Cardellini character Juno must've been modeled after), and the great comic-to-film masterpiece Ghost World. Of course, now that I mention Ghost World, it's obvious that no one will ever come close to matching the subtle complexity Thora Birch gave to the Enid character. So, why bother?
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