JUNO (Jason Reitman, 2007, USA) LITTLE MISS PREGGERS is a putrid, pretentious, pubescent portion of baby pabulum. It is bland intellectual fare that is scripted with an undemanding diet of words. Jason Reitman’s film hides behind Ellen Page’s quirky yet shallow dialogue delivered with the utmost zeal because it has nothing interesting to say, no insight into characters or conflict, and just plods along until the happy ending: Juno and Bleeker even make beautiful music together. This condescending and emotionally fallacious narrative is independent filmmaking at its worst: no substance and all style. The characters including Juno are archetypes representative of people but showing no true originality. They are phony and cardboard caricatures that play only a particular role in the story because we are never allowed to actually know them; we are just told about them. The dialogue is sometimes funny but more often just flat and insincere. The story never addresses any issue of substance and glamorizes teen pregnancy by minimizing the effects both physically and socially. I would hazard a guess that the father would have to be legally involved in any closed adoption so the nexus of the film is just not true. Mark is the only character given a little definition but the writer sells him out as a complete jerk and gives the moral high ground to his fake stereotypical spouse. Awful. This is a movie that the Christian right wing should applaud and that should turn all intelligent viewers away from this derivative and god-fearing sermon. JUNO is the equivalent of an intellectual abortion and is non-viable entertainment. (F-)
It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
JUNO (Jason Reitman, 2007, USA) LITTLE MISS PREGGERS is a putrid, pretentious, pubescent portion of baby pabulum. It is bland intellectual fare that is scripted with an undemanding diet of words. Jason Reitman’s film hides behind Ellen Page’s quirky yet shallow dialogue delivered with the utmost zeal because it has nothing interesting to say, no insight into characters or conflict, and just plods along until the happy ending: Juno and Bleeker even make beautiful music together. This condescending and emotionally fallacious narrative is independent filmmaking at its worst: no substance and all style. The characters including Juno are archetypes representative of people but showing no true originality. They are phony and cardboard caricatures that play only a particular role in the story because we are never allowed to actually know them; we are just told about them. The dialogue is sometimes funny but more often just flat and insincere. The story never addresses any issue of substance and glamorizes teen pregnancy by minimizing the effects both physically and socially. I would hazard a guess that the father would have to be legally involved in any closed adoption so the nexus of the film is just not true. Mark is the only character given a little definition but the writer sells him out as a complete jerk and gives the moral high ground to his fake stereotypical spouse. Awful. This is a movie that the Christian right wing should applaud and that should turn all intelligent viewers away from this derivative and god-fearing sermon. JUNO is the equivalent of an intellectual abortion and is non-viable entertainment. (F-)
