JUNO

JUNO, Jason Reitman, director, 2007

 

HOOK: Little Miss Sunshine, Part 2

 

STORY: Teenaged girl wisecracking her way through pregnancy. Tattooed script writer gets Oscar. Viewers turn to drugs and alcohol.

 

GOSSIP: Quote from stripper-turned-writer Diablo Cody’s former “Pussy Ranch” blog: “I need clean-up in Booth C.”

 

JOHN: My God, Ellen Page is twenty-one, she looks twelve. What did she like at twelve, that fetus? And why is a movie about teen pregnancy, divorce, giving up a child for adoption, unsafe sex, alienation and teen pregnancy (whoops, I said that already) a comedy? But Jennifer Garner—who looks like my daughter—is heartbreaking. This is a trip to adolescence for those of us glad to be past it.

 

GO GO (2 GOs out of four)

 

SPANKY: I liked the dad. He was the only one (including the stepmom) not talking that self-conscious teenspeak. John and I agree for once. Movie goers are pretty desperate to be excited by this one. What next a laugh-riot about anorexia. And that Once-style duet at the end! Sure life is going to work out well for this pair. Kids, use a condom. Adults, if you watch this one, pull the condom over your head.

 

“TWO PAWS DOWN” (1 BARK out of four)

 

KEEPER: “Juno? Like Juno, Alaska?” “No.”