In what appears to be more of an honest accident than a work of cunning marketing strategy, two films about the inner lives and social stumbling blocks of precocious, ???outsider??? teenagers are set to hit theaters tomorrow. Jason Reitman???s Juno has been widely praised for its flashy script (which marries bloggish snark to the kind of mawkish morality melodrama that???s been in short supply since the demise of The O.C.), and for the work of lead actress Ellen Page (whose proficient puppeting of Diablo Cody???s detached slanguage Looks Like Acting).
Though hardly the revelation some of the rapturous reviews have made it out to be, Juno is the rare mainstream film that might allow a teenage girl to feel as though her desires have been recognized, and for that alone, it deserves praise. But anyone who tries to defend it against charges of overwritten, over-embellishment hasn???t seen Jennifer Venditti’s Billy the Kid, which begins its official theatrical run tomorrow with an exclusive engagement at the IFC Center in New York.
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