Sim1It Started with a Chair
July 12th 2009 11:46
We all know the same old, predictable Hollywood plots. The ‘boy meets girl, some shit happens, they get together in the end’. The ‘wrongly accused dude or dudette fights to make the truth known to every man and his dog’. The ‘car chase in San Francisco that inevitably ruins a tram or four’. Hollywood makes gazillions of finest US Dollars out of the same plots, year in, year out.
Which is why I’m always up for an alternative storyline; something new, something quirky, something ingenius. Like ‘pregnant teenager is looking for a suitable couple to adopt her unborn child’. A lot of people have raved about ‘Juno’, so obviously I had to get in on the action and impart my opinion onto the world. (or at least you, my faithful readers).
And I have to say, I was a little disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high or maybe I’m just too hard to please, but I really expected more.
20-year old Ellen Page did not convince me as a 16-year old Juno. Even if you had tried to convince me in the film that she was actually 20, I still would have been sceptical, she comes across as too mature, despite the teenage allures.
I mean, here we have a SIXTEEN-year old girl who finds out she’s pregnant and at no stage in the movie does she actually freak about that. I’m 29 and I’d be having a nervous breakdown, I promise you!
Michael Cera, on the other hand, who plays Juno’s boyfriend Paulie Bleeker and who was 19 at the time of filming, actually looks like he’s 12. So there’s a bit of a mis-match there.
I wish some of the characters had been developed a bit more, too. Juno’s stepmum ‘Bren’ who loves Weimaraners (dogs) but can’t have any because Juno’s ‘allergic to dogs’ saliva’....Had that been developed a little more, we would have gotten a few more laughs out of this, me thinks. And Paulie and his obsession with Orange TicTacs! Again, perfect material for a few more jokes.
In fact, I expected a few more laughs altogether. I thought this was supposed to be a funny movie? I didn’t really laugh once. I smirked when Juno said ‘I either just peed my pants or it’s Thundercats are go!’ And even that was far too cool for a 16-year old who’s just gone into labour. And what are Thundercats? Surely, it’s ‘ThunderBIRDS are go!’?
Jennifer Garner annoyed me no end in this film. Because in every single scene she looked like she was about to cry. She appeared psychotic, close to a nervous breakdown and old Jen did not give any substance to the character.
Now hands up who thought Juno and Mark (the future adoptive father) were going to get it on? Did the film makers want us to believe that was about to happen? Did they appeal to our dirty imagination there?
I have studied Media and I am aware that in a movie, we are supposed to suspend our sense of disbelief, especially in scenarios where aliens come jumping out of people’s guts or a complete idiot becomes a millionaire and invests his money in a ‘fruit company’. But where there are obvious booh-boohs, I get a little disappointed. This isn’t the 1950s anymore! So how come 16-year old Juno drives a big fuck-off family van in one scene and rides a bicycle in the next?
Having said all that, this movie has a kick-ass soundtrack, including Mott the Hoople’s ‘All The Young Dudes’ which, incidentally, is my mobile phone ringtone. (in case anyone was interested). And you know what? Despite all of the above bitching, ‘Juno’ did actually leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. It’s not your stereotypical happy end, but I finished with a little soppy smile and an ‘Aaww’. And I feel better about the world. And for that reason alone, dear readers, I would recommend you watch it, if you haven’t done so already. And if you have, watch it again. For you, too, deserve to feel warm and fuzzy.
Peace.
Which is why I’m always up for an alternative storyline; something new, something quirky, something ingenius. Like ‘pregnant teenager is looking for a suitable couple to adopt her unborn child’. A lot of people have raved about ‘Juno’, so obviously I had to get in on the action and impart my opinion onto the world. (or at least you, my faithful readers).
20-year old Ellen Page did not convince me as a 16-year old Juno. Even if you had tried to convince me in the film that she was actually 20, I still would have been sceptical, she comes across as too mature, despite the teenage allures.
I mean, here we have a SIXTEEN-year old girl who finds out she’s pregnant and at no stage in the movie does she actually freak about that. I’m 29 and I’d be having a nervous breakdown, I promise you!
Michael Cera, on the other hand, who plays Juno’s boyfriend Paulie Bleeker and who was 19 at the time of filming, actually looks like he’s 12. So there’s a bit of a mis-match there.
I wish some of the characters had been developed a bit more, too. Juno’s stepmum ‘Bren’ who loves Weimaraners (dogs) but can’t have any because Juno’s ‘allergic to dogs’ saliva’....Had that been developed a little more, we would have gotten a few more laughs out of this, me thinks. And Paulie and his obsession with Orange TicTacs! Again, perfect material for a few more jokes.
Jennifer Garner annoyed me no end in this film. Because in every single scene she looked like she was about to cry. She appeared psychotic, close to a nervous breakdown and old Jen did not give any substance to the character.
Now hands up who thought Juno and Mark (the future adoptive father) were going to get it on? Did the film makers want us to believe that was about to happen? Did they appeal to our dirty imagination there?
I have studied Media and I am aware that in a movie, we are supposed to suspend our sense of disbelief, especially in scenarios where aliens come jumping out of people’s guts or a complete idiot becomes a millionaire and invests his money in a ‘fruit company’. But where there are obvious booh-boohs, I get a little disappointed. This isn’t the 1950s anymore! So how come 16-year old Juno drives a big fuck-off family van in one scene and rides a bicycle in the next?
Having said all that, this movie has a kick-ass soundtrack, including Mott the Hoople’s ‘All The Young Dudes’ which, incidentally, is my mobile phone ringtone. (in case anyone was interested). And you know what? Despite all of the above bitching, ‘Juno’ did actually leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. It’s not your stereotypical happy end, but I finished with a little soppy smile and an ‘Aaww’. And I feel better about the world. And for that reason alone, dear readers, I would recommend you watch it, if you haven’t done so already. And if you have, watch it again. For you, too, deserve to feel warm and fuzzy.
Peace.
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