Juno, the latest of this year’s films about unexpected pregnancy, is not yet in wide release but is already being called the female answer to Knocked Up.
The comparison is reasonable: both films feature moments of laugh-out-loud humor and characters coming to terms with their own evolving definitions of adulthood and responsibility.
But whereas some critics have accused Judd Apatow’s summer comedy of having a borderline conservative message about women, pregnancy, and family, Juno is being touted its feminist doppelganger. The film is focused on the titular character (Ellen Page), a precocious, smart, pregnant 16-year-old, and her choice to give her baby up for adoption.
In contrast to Knocked Up, Juno covers much of the same territory without falling too neatly into the gender dichotomy that often plagues films about family life and relationships (women just want to have families while men try to escape responsibility).
Screenwriter Diablo Cody is the key here; she delivers a snarky but thoughtful script. Juno’s choice is not an easy one, but being a parent is clearly not the right decision for her.
Her friend/baby daddy Paulie Bleeker (Superbad’s Michael Cera) is one of the most emotionally mature yet realistic male teen characters seen on film in years. He respects Juno’s choice and offers support, but keeps a distance when Juno decides to continue the pregnancy.
The biggest surprise of the film is the poignant performances from both Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as the would-be adoptive parents. At first glance, the couple comes off as the predictable yuppie stereotype of the baby-obsessed wife and her frustrated man-child husband, but both characters emerge with depth and internal conflict as they revaluate their marriage and their own choice to become parents.
It takes some time to get to the depth; Cody packs the first quarter of the film with so many pop-culture references and snarky exchanges that the film threatens to become insufferable with its quirkiness. (And if you have a low tolerance for Kimya Dawson’s winsome folk-rock, watch out, because she is all over this soundtrack).
But by the end of the film, as the script abandons much of its smugness and becomes a stealth tear jerker, the emotional payoff is huge.
– Keidra Chaney
Juno
Director: Jason Reitman
91 minutes, Fox Searchlight
Released in select US theaters on December 5, 2007
Juno: www.foxsearchlight.com/juno
Fox Searchlight: www.foxsearchlight.com