Juno (Special Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
Juno (Special Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
20th Century Juno [Blu-ray] Explore the outrageous “Junoverse” of the year’s most talked-about comedy with this 2-Disc Special Edition of Juno-bulging with awesome special features to deliver hours of laughs and tons of feel-good fun!Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a cool confident teenager who takes a nine-month detour into adulthood when she’s faced with an unplanned pregnancy-and sets out to find the perfect parents for her baby. With the help of her charmingly unassuming boyfriend (Michael Cera) supportive dad (J.K Simmons) and no-nonsense stepmom (Allison Janney) Juno sets her sights on an affluent couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) longing to adopt their first child.Somewhere between the sharp satire of Election and the rich human comedy of You Can Count On Me lies Juno, a sardonic but ultimately compassionate story of a pregnant teenage girl who wants to give her baby up for adoption. Social misfit Juno (Ellen Page, Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand) protects herself with a caustic wit, but when she gets pregnant by her friend Paulie (Michael Cera, Superbad), Juno finds herself unwilling to terminate the pregnancy. When she chooses a couple who place a classified ad looking to adopt, Juno gets drawn further into their lives than she anticipated. But Juno is much more than its plot; the stylized dialogue (by screenwriter Diablo Cody) seems forced at first, but soon creates a richly textured world, greatly aided by superb performances by Page, Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as the prospective parents, and J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man) and Allison Janney as Juno’s father and stepmother. Director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) deftly keeps the movie from slipping into easy, shallow sarcasm or foundering in sentimentality. The result is smarter and funnier than you might expect from the subject matter, and warmer and more touching than you might expect from the cocky attitude. Page’s performance is deceptively simple; she never asks the audience to love her, yet she effortlessly carries a movie in which she’s in almost every scene. That’s star power. –Bret Fetzer
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars A feel good movie
Juno is an awesome movie w/ dry wit. Ellen Paige is amazing & so are the actors that play her parents. Michael Cera is very ackward as usual but plays it well and Olivia Thirlby is great as Ellen’s friend. A great cast and a great feel good movie.
5 Stars Definitely 5 Stars!
Imagine if every time you opened your mouth, you almost always made the funniest, cleverist, snarkiest possible comment. Now imagine if your parents and many of the people around you are also the same way. That’s what life is like for pregnant teenager, Juno played by Ellen Page. In fact, it’s strange to see Page interviewed and not coming up with snarky comments and one liners.
I enjoyed every moment of this movie, not just for the award-winning screenplay, but for the interesting and realistic plot, good acting, chemistry between the characters (for example, even when Juno’s parents are angry or frustrated with her, you can tell they still love her), and kind tender treatment of a delicate issue (pregnancy and options surrounding it).
I highly recommended this movie to my friend and high-ranked Amazon Reviewer, Dennis Littrell. He’s a bit of a culture snob who only likes “films” not “movies.” He thought the movie would be rather juvenile and refused to watch it until I told him it won best screenplay. He absolutely loved the movie too, and says it’s a “film,” not a “movie!” He says, “Just a brilliant script, the kind of script that makes other writers green with envy…Ellen Page is excellent as Juno, and does she have some great lines to deliver. I also liked Allison Janney who played Juno’s stepmom, Brenda, and Jennifer Garner as Vanessa. The movie is a full Kleenex box for sure, yet there is nothing phony about it, and there is no political position taken on abortion…”
I don’t think this movie is over-rated at all. If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend you ignore the one-star reviews and give it a try.
5 Stars Great cast, dialogue
Stylized the dialogue may be - do 16 year olds really talk like this now? I doubt it - but this movie really entertains, despite it’s soap-opera plot about a teen preggers and the yuppie couple that wants the baby. I was mesmerized. The soundtrack is a bit precious, but still likeable in the end. You’ll foresee the outcome from the first 5 minutes, but this isn’t a suspense tale. It’s meant to say something about the human condition, and it succeeds.
4 Stars One of the Best of 2007
Jason Reitman’s 2007 film Juno became a audience favorite and the little film that could. Juno penned by Diablo Cody ( who incidently took home the Best Screenplay Oscar) tells the story of a pregnant 16 year old detour into adulthood.
Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a normal teenager who finds herself pregnant and faced with life changing choices. With her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) she sets out to find the perfect adoptive parents for her child. What she finds are the Lorings (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman). The Lorings are confronted with their own issues as to what it means to be adults and parents.
The film walks the thin line between comedy and drama quite well. The script is pitch perfect and the acting by the strong ensemble cast is a joy to watch. The film attempts to show individuals as humans not just cardboard cut-outs.
The Blu Ray disc that I viewed presented a crystal clear picture and near perfect sound. The disc also features a ton of extras that enhance the viewing experience. Of especial note are the commentary by Reitman and Cody and the featured deleted scenes. This film was one of the sleepers of 2007 and should not be missed.
3 Stars Don’t buy into the hype!
Don’t get me wrong, this is a good little movie - emphasis on “little.” If I’d seen it on Lifetime Movie Network, I might say it was better than average. But a 2007 Oscar nominee for Best Picture? You’ve got to be kidding! I would be far more forgiving of Juno’s flaws had I not been subjected to the overblown hype surrounding this movie. Now I feel obligated to knock it down a few notches. How it got nominated over much more deserving films (like Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild”) is a testament to the genius of the marketing and PR folks.
We are repeatedly asked to “suspend disbelief” throughout this movie - not a good thing for a real-life type drama. Juno (Ellen Page) is a sarcastic, precocious 16-year-old who graciously humors the clueless adults in her life. She finds herself accidentally pregnant by a friend who she seduces for apparently for no other reason than idle curiosity. How is it that she’s never heard of birth control? And why aren’t her parents upset? The dialogue is reminiscent of a sit-com: rapid-fire, oh-so-witty, full of hip pop-culture references… in other words, totally unbelievable. In one scene Juno name-drops Soupy Sales, yet in another reveals she has never heard of Bob Marley. Oh please! The exchanges between Juno and her best friend are particularly unrealistic and annoying. I wonder how many actual teenage girls crack one-liners during the “Oh my god I’m pregnant!” conversation. The most believable character is Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), the would-be adoptive mom. There are shades of gray in her portrayal, and thankfully, she did not have to read lines of dialogue that sound sound like they belong on 30 Rock.
Juno is amusing enough though, to keep the viewer entertained till the end. But that is the extent of it’s value. The outcome is predictable, the relationships all tidied up in a feel-good way, and the teachable moments, though lacking preachyness, are clichéd. Rent the movie to fill an idle afternoon, but don’t go out of your way to see it. Better yet, see “Into the Wild” instead. Now that’s movie-making!
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews