BigJeffLebowski Blog

Under discussion:

X-Men: The Last Stand  (2006)

Arrested Development [TV Series]  (2003)

Hard Candy  (2006)

Superbad  (2007)

Juno  (2007)

There are so many wonderful things I would like to say about Juno.  That its cast is impeccable, that its soundtrack conveys the perfect emotions, that its details ring both true and hilarious.  But most of all, I want to say how good -- no, how GREAT -- watching it made me feel.

Ellen Page plays the eponymous sixteen year old heroine with a startingly endearing blend of precociousness, arrogance, cynicism, feigned independence, and aloof self-determination that is so right in so many ways, I cannot help but declare -- after having seen her only in this, Hard Candy, and X-Men: The Last Stand (in my reviews for all of which I've swooned for this girl) -- that Page is going to be among the greatest actresses of her generation.  It would have been so easy for a film like this to degrade into silliness or ugliness, and yet somehow, Diablo Cody, Jason Reitman, and Page have colluded to create one of the greatest cinematic outcasts and one of the most unique, interesting, beguilling, and utterly irresistable coming of age films I've ever seen.  It's a winner, and it's a classic.

Juno (both the film and the character) has an interesting sneak attack, a way of skittering into your heart through the back door and falling asleep on the couch before you're even aware of its/her presence.  And it's aware of this.  There's an effortless charm, an intrinsic inveiglement that stems from being so awkward and so ill at ease that there is no alternative (excluding self destruction, a masturbatory martyrdom that this film is miles above) other than to fully embrace that which is uniquely you.  Page nails it.  Cody nails it.  And Michael Cera has built an entire career upon it.  Anyone who doesn't like Cera has deep seated issues which they need to resolve on their own terms.  From Arrested Development to Superbad to Juno, Cera has shown an interesting arc as an actor.  Every line of dialogue and every action is utterly believable; Cera may play variations upon the same character, but he invests that character with everything he's got and plays it like his life depends upon it.

And that's the charm of Juno: these characters know who they are and where their boundaries lie.  They are not ones to be bogged down by relativism or morbidity.  Instead, they celebrate their quirks, their limitations and their passions, without regard for what others may think.  The film's greatest moment, which unabashedly put a lump in my throat and a misty coat over my vision, is when Juno tells Paulie Bleeker (Cera) that he's the coolest person she's ever met without even trying to be, and he confides "I try really hard, actually."  It's a moment of honesty that few films -- hell, few people -- would dare.  These are people who understand they are not mass-marketable.  They will appeal to their small coterie of friends, and they will cherish them for all their flaws and failings as much as for their virtues.  But if they're going to be disliked by the world at large, they're going to be disliked on their own terms.

Characters like these could travel one of three roads: they could try to fit in with the so called popular kids and feel the sting of rejection, they could actively alienate people to prove a point, or they could become irrepressibly themselves in spite of the social acceptance they may forfeit.  To many, the last two options may seem like the same thing in different words, but anyone who appreciates this film with their heart in addition to their brain will know that one will leave you empty whereas one will leave you edified.  And those are the people who will champion these characters and smile uncontrollably during the film's indefectible finale.