Juno MacGuff is not your usual teenager; smart and sharp-tongued, she stands out from the usual high school crowd. After losing her virginity with her friend Paulie Bleeker on a chair, she soon finds herself pregnant. At first she decides to get "a hasty abortion", but can't go through with it and instead decides to find a suitable couple to adopt the baby. Searching through ads in The Pennysaver she comes across the Lorings, an affluent suburban couple, and agrees to allow them to adopt the child. As she falls more and more pregnant she begins to bond with Mark Loring, a failed musician turned commercial jingles writer, over horror films and music, while staying a little apprehensive about Vanessa, his highly strung wife.
Directed by
Jason Reitman
Written by
Diablo Cody
Starring
Ellen Page (Juno MacGuff); Michael Cera (Paulie Bleeker); Jennifer Garner (Vanessa Loring); Jason Bateman (Mark Loring); Allison Janney (Bren MacGuff); J.K. Simmons (Mac MacGuff); Olivia Thirlby (Leah); Eileen Pedde (Gerta Rauss); Rainn Wilson (Rollo); Daniel Clark (Steve Rendazo); Darla Vandenbossche (Bleeker's Mom); Aman Johal (Vijay); Valerie Tian (Su-Chin); Emily Perkins (Punk Receptionist); Kaaren de Zilva (Ultrasound Technician). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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Pro-life - only just!
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Recommended
As I write this the dust is beginning to settle on Juno and a greater range of voices are beginning to speak out with respect to the overall message the film is communicating. Upon its release almost all in the Catholic community were raving about Juno; the film was placed in most Christian critics' Top-10 annual films list and I catapulted it straight into my Top-100. But since then I have removed it from my Top-100, though I still do recommend it. The reason I dropped it from my Top-100 was after hearing a few voices (Al Kresta, Teresa Tomeo) question the film as to it being pro-life yes, but not necessarily pro-chastity (which to me questions whether it is pro-life at all). With respect to Al's comments I believe these were particularly related to a news segment asking whether films such as Juno had anything to do with contributing to the recent (June 2008) Massachusetts pregnancy pact, in which 17 teenage girls became pregnant. The possibility was not ruled out. On top of this, I remembered the scene when Juno's father asks her who the father of her child is, to which he replies "Paulie Bleeker! - I didn't think he had it in him". In effect giving him a "man's nod" for his behaviour. Against this, I do think the pro-life message was strong (albeit at the denial of the filmmakers), especially the finger nails comment. So on balance it does still get my approval... I just pray an equally popular pro-chastity movie is made before not-too-long.
