Movie Review: Juno

As you all know by now Juno was all the buzz last year as the indie movie to beat. It did nab a few Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and author Diablo Cody won for Best Original Screenplay. The film went on to great success(grossing over $229 million worldwide), and surprisingly only cost $6.5 million to make. Well, it is actually a well done film, so it better have made some money.
When I first saw the trailer to this movie I thought, "cool, might be another Superbad-type of movie," since Michael Cera is also in this film and it surrounds high school kids again. Now that I've seen it, I realize that it is not like Superbad or any Apatow entertainment. However, that's good because this film does stand on its own.
And one of the ways that it does stand on its own is because of the lead character, Juno, who is played by Ellen Page. Before this film I haven't heard much about her, except that she was Shadowcat in X men 3. So seeing her in this lead role gave me new flourish on her acting chops. And well, she does a great job. And since, the movie is based on Juno and what is going on in her life, the acting skills have to be there in order for the audience to follow the film. There are great scenes of dialogue that Juno sputters through her sarcastic humor, which makes her character more adept to reality. Is Ellen Page playing Juno, or is Juno playing Ellen Page? They seem like the same person. That's what's great about this film, it keeps a sense of reality, but also keeping the humor without it becoming too Hollywood. Juno may not be the best film of the year, but it is a very enjoyable film to watch.
3.5 out of 5