BY THOMAS SCAGLIONE III
Lions’ Pride Staff Writer

Photo curtesy movies.yahoo.com The official movie poster for Juno.

“It all started with a chair,” Juno (from the new Indie/comedy of the same name) sarcastically reflects at the beginning of the film as she begins to speculate that her night of after-hours fun with her perfectly flawed pseudo-boyfriend Pauli Bleeker, might have lasting consequences.

Juno MacGuff (played by Ellen Page from 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand) contemplates abortion, but after finding out that her “sea-monkey” fetus has fingernails, she decides to stay pregnant and give the baby to want-to-be parents Vanessa and Mark Loring (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman respectively) whose ad she found in the local Penny Saver.

However, complications arise as Mark questions his willingness to play father-figure to this child as tic-tac addict Pauli (Michael Cera of 2007’s Superbad) considers his role in Juno’s life, culminating in an ending that both soothes the soul and comforts the viewer’s inner love-sick child.

Director Jason Reitman (2005’s Thank You for Smoking) and writer Diablo Cody mix the right amount of dark humor, witty one-liners, emotional frustration, and teen angst to follow the life of the very unique Juno who must examine her life and learn to replace her quirky defense mechanisms with a willingness to let people be close to her.

With a soundtrack featuring a number of songs with vocals by Ellen Page and Michael Cera singing what can only be describes as playground, indie-ballads, and the proper jumble of famous and relatively unknown actors, this film has everything needed for a big box-office hit, while still maintaining a low-budget, cult-classic flare.

Due to the nature of this film’s comedic originality and the straight forwardness of nearly all of the dialogue, it may be hard for some to appreciate this film due to its laid-back style and all-too-comfortable intimacy.

Juno was released into theatres December 25, 2007. The movie carries a PG-13 rating for mature thematic material, sexual content, and language. Even so, Juno has made over $100 million, has been nominated for four Oscars and three Golden Globes, and has won a multitude of various other cinematic awards, including the Audience Award from the Stockholm Film Festival. At 96 minutes of pure creative jest and musical farce, this movie is sure to inspire teens and adults to “tough it out” and “just deal with it.”