A good film, but not the best by any stretch.
I'm the type of guy who's sort of on the fence when it comes to teen comedy-dramas that involve people getting pregnant, simply because it's been done before. Maybe it's also got to do with the fact that I knew so many girls in highschool who were pregnant that it's made me take a sick and twisted view of teen pregnancy issues. Yet something about 2007's "Juno" made me forget most of my quarrels with this style.
As you know, Juno(Ellen Page) gets pregnant by Bleeker(Michael Cera), and goes off to find a good family to give the child to(Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). Ok so the plot is pretty thin, but that's to be expected when you think about most films these days.
There's a lot of talk on the ol' interwebs about how this movie is nothing more than "worthless hipster bullshit", which makes no sense to me. Most people are just bitching about it because it was the big popular movie, just like they did with "Transformers" and "The Matrix". People online will find anything to complain about so that they can seem cool, popular, and intellectual. Don't listen to these poeple, but please listen to me.
Ellen Page gives a good(not great) performance as a semi-geeky girl who has no quarrels spitting out pop-culture references whenever able. Sure there's some things that seem a little odd and out of place, but people bring up that "She's supposed to be 16, no 16 year old talks like that". That's a BS argument, because I was spewing pop-culture satire and the likes when I was that age(and that was only 6 years ago mind you). I like the fact that she makes a Thundercats joke(and I don't want to hear the whole "she got the line wrong! RAAAAAGGGGEEE!" crap because you're a moron if you can't just accept a fun reference). Michael Cera gives a somewhat half-assed performance as Bleeker, but that seems more due to the fact that his part really isn't as big as one might expect. In fact, I think Jennifer Garner has more screen time than Cera does. I can't blame it all on him, but in the long run Michael Cera is sort of a one trick pony, kind of like Rachel Dratch...that same tone and facial expression no matter the role.
J.K. Simmons(of Spiderman fame) does an exceptional job as Juno's father, with the sort of wit and charm you'd expect from him(and the line "I'm gonna' punch that Bleeker kid in the weiner" is great).
The music is a big downside to this film. it's all acoustic "indie"-pop junk that could have been taken out n favor of something to better suit the personalities of the characters. Sure there's a Sonic Youth song in there, but who even likes Sonic Youth anymore? Nobody, that's who.
So in the long run this is an enjoyable film, if you don't mind some missed character development, a thin plot, and some strange lines(yes, even I admit that "honest to blog?" is fake as all get out), and a few missed jokes. Just don't let the whiney idiots that lurk about the lands of the internet deter you with all their anti-"hipster"(what the hell does "hipster" even mean?) junk.