The Todd Blog

Here’s my review of “Juno,” the first of two movie reviews I’ll be doing this week. (I’m using the “Ramsey Movie Criteria.”)

Content
“Juno” follows the story of Juno MacGuff, a witty and “offbeat” teen who gets pregnant after becoming “sexually active” with Paulie Bleeker (played by Michael Cera from Arrested Development). She decides to give her baby up for adoption, finding a perfect couple to raise her baby.

“Juno” is a very funny movie, with clever quips and punchy, fairly realistic dialog among its characters. The story is unique and relatively well-conceived. There isn’t a lot (any) action, but the film moves along at a nice pace, never dragging or feeling boring.

The movie is rated PG-13 due to mature thematic material, sexual content and language. There is some fairly foul language and the subject is also mature, but the sexual content is relatively minor, with absolutely no nudity.

Performance
I think that all of the actors did an incredible job playing their part — even Jennifer Garner! Ellen Paige did a phenomenal job brining Juno to life. Michael Cera’s nervous innocence was perfect in this role. Jason Bateman (another AD cast member) was great. J.K. Simmons was natural in the role of Juno’s father. In short, the performances were excellent all around, with no one coming across as too bizarre, stereotypical or exaggerated.

Artistic Value
Artistic value is an interesting category for this type of movie. It’s not what you would call “beautiful” exactly, but its editing and graphics match the quirky feeling of the film nicely. The music is absolutely great (I’m listening to the soundtrack right now).

Outcome
Hayley and I both enjoyed this movie immensely. The ending is satisfying and leaves you feeling encouraged and happy. This film will definitely be purchased by the Ramsey household upon its DVD release.

Rating:
I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.