Released in 2007, “Juno” is an American coming of age comedy and drama film written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman. It starts when 16 year old Juno Macguff (Elliot page) finds out she is unexpectedly pregnant with her longtime friend Paulie Bleakers (Michael Cera) baby. Juno decides she wants to get an abortion but while at the clinic waiting to get an abortion, she decides putting the baby up for adoption is more suitable and more comfortable for her. After looking in ads with her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) they discover a married couple with no kids willing to adopt and she believes they would be the perfect couple to adopt her baby. They are Vannessa Loring (Jennifer Garner) and Mark Loring (Jason Bateman) and when Juno meets them at their fancy-looking home she is impressed. She believes they are a “perfect” couple and all they need in their life is a child. Mark works from home making commercial jingles and Juno learns they have a lot in common such as music taste so she often meets with him to hang out.
Although Juno and Paulie agreed to keep a distance because she “broke his heart” Juno finds herself jealous when she discovers he asked another girl to the prom. Throughout the film she juggles with her feelings for him as she doesn’t know how she feels about him anymore due to the pregnancy. Soon before Juno is said to give birth, her regular visits with Mark turn into him confessing things he shouldn’t, which you will find out. Throughout the film you may wonder if Juno ever decides she wants to get back together with Paulie and what is the end result regarding the baby. This film explores the topics of friendship, navigating teen pregnancy, and how many get through tough situations.
Although teenage pregnancy should not be glorified it shows how Juno handles the situation in the best way possible as she finds good adoptive parents even though one may or may not turn out to be so great. The relationship dynamics in this movie were really good especially because of how supportive Juno’s parents are, even though I didn’t mention them until now in this review, they were really supportive of the pregnancy and of her solution of putting her baby up for adoption. Juno is a very likeable character as she has her own sense of individuality and is unique compared to others. Elliot Page did such a good job at portraying his character as it fit so well, it really was flawless and I don’t think nobody else could replace him even if they tried. All of the characters shown in this film portray a sense of not everybody being perfect because they all have their own unique personality they juggle throughout the film. Overall all the actors did a really good job at playing their part especially Michael Cera since he played the awkward cringy teenage boy juggling getting a girl pregnant. You may have heard the song “Anyone Else but you” by “The Moldy Peaches” on TikTok or other social media apps, as it is sung by Juno and Paulie at the end of the film as they play the guitar and sing. In general the whole soundtrack in this movie was flawless even though the diversity could have been wider. Singer Kimya Dawson had quite a few of her songs played in this movie such as “Sleep” “Expectations” “Loose Lips” “So Nice So Smart”.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film the first time I watched it! It is such a great coming of age film and I wish I could watch it for the first time again. “Juno” is such a quirky and funny film despite the whole pregnancy dynamic but that’s what made it unique. I don’t know if I ever watched a movie like “Juno” before but I’m pretty sure they are out there somewhere. I really loved all the relationships shown in this and the plots that took place and I recommend it 100 percent!