In Continuum.

Juno had a lot going for it, with a cast that is sharp and edgy, matched with a witty and smart script polished over for about a hundred times over. It is difficult to find fault in this film, because the dialogues and the story were tightly knitted together into an interesting and fun film to look upon. But as I was sitting there in the theaters, I was left wondering why I was the only person yawning out of control, when Kania next to me was obviously in one of her so-sweet moments. It's true that Kania cries at everything in a romantic film, but she does have a good taste in films as well, and it takes a lot for her to dislike one - but not me. With a wondrous combination that is a sure win, it is strange how I did not enjoy myself at all. More details to come later, but let's focus on the synopsis for now.

Juno (Ellen Page) is a sixteen year old girl that found out about her pregnancy a week or two after she had sex with her high school classmate, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). At that kind of age, pregnancy isn't something you'd want to deal with, so Juno decides to have her baby after a failed attempt at the abortion clinic, and then put the baby up for abortion. Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) is a pair of rich suburb family whose been trying for a baby for five years now, and putting their faces up in the local newspaper and offering to pay for the expenses of child-bearing attracted the attention of the young Juno. So the film tells the story of how Juno gets through her pregnancy, and at the same time changes the lives of - not just herself - but the relationships of the people around her. 

It seems like I have been watching way too many films about unwanted pregnancy these days, I hope it isn't a bad omen or anything. Knocked Up, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and now Juno. It is definitely not a topic that is easy to tackle, but most of the films today have decided to take the cautionary approach to the subject, and Juno has certainly succeeded in trying to blend a cautionary tale of sorts with a unique and smart humor and a clever way of storytelling. You cannot deny that the script was very well written, and that every word was carefully chosen by the writer of the script. But still, the humor in the film did not work for me at all, and they all just sort of fell flat before my feet. It's not that I was expecting the kind of humor that Knocked Up provided, the kind that depends a lot on sexually orientated jokes and mild slapstick humor, not to mention the toilet related ones. Still, with a film that has been praised for its wits and humor, I did not find a lot of the latter in the film at all. I smiled and chuckled a few times, but I was inevitably letdown by the end of the movie, feeling a little empty at the very same time.

Director Jason Reitman is not a foreigner to a script that relies on the sharpness of the words. His previous effort like Thank You for Smoking, was a pleasant surprise for myself and a Tour de Force for me personally. It was a very different style of filmmaking, and I enjoyed it immensely. But something went wrong in Juno for me, something just didn't quite work. For me, something was just missing in the whole film, something that should have caught my attention and interest. I couldn't care too much about any characters other than Juno herself, and everybody else just felt a little empty to me, just characters going through the script of a film they were hired to act in. It wasn't very special, as a film, nothing exceptional going on here. I cannot deny that this is a warm and 'nice' film, for the lack of a better word. But I guess I expect more than just feeling warm on a Friday evening at the theaters. 

Performance wise, Ellen Page delivered again after her amazing performance in Hard Candy. Until this day, I still hold that performance as one of the best by any female actresses I have ever seen, and she shone in this film as well as the smart high school girl with a strange sense of humor and a sharp tongue. This is her movie, and the center of all the praises to be honest. Her nomination for Best Actress is probably the only nomination I can understand in this year's Oscars, and the same cannot be said about the Best Picture nor the Best Director nominations at all. The supporting cast provided their own share of good performances, with Jennifer Garner pulling off the woman desperate for a child, and Jason Bateman as the cool father who became in conflict with his ambitions and his family. Personally, I love J.K. Simmons in anything, but he just received too little screen time here, the same with Allison Janney. My favorite characters were played by them, Juno's parents, and they were greatly neglected in the script. The majority of the time was dedicated to the love relationship between Juno and Paul, which I thought was just very teenage-drama orientated at best. It didn't strike me as being touching, or special, or something that I'd think about after the credits have rolled. Michael Cera was great as Paul, but the nature of the story just did not bring a very strong chemistry across between Juno and Paul. I couldn't feel anything between the both of them, something I was certainly looking forward to. 

A lot has been compared between Juno and last year's Little Miss Sunshine. Both films had the same kind of relaxed and pleasant vibes to them. Both films were dark horses when they were nominated for Best Picture, and both films had very welcoming stories to the viewers. However, I feel that the latter succeeded because it did not try to be anything smart. It certainly wasn't as polished as Juno, but Little Miss Sunshine did feel a lot more realistic, and lot closer to reality for me, and to my heart as well. I feel that in this race, Little Miss Sunshine is indeed the superior to Juno, though a lot of people are going to disagree with that. I just think that there is anything noteworthy about Juno, whether it is about the directing or the film as whole. Sure, it was a good film. But a Best Picture? Most certainly not.

I have watched four out of the five nominated films for Best Picture, save for There Will Be Blood. Next to its peers like Atonement, Michael Clayton and No Country for Old Men, Juno clearly pales in comparison. To me, Juno is certainly the worst nominee this year, and it probably cannot be compared to the other three movies that I have already seen, not by a mile. It's just a movie that was screened to me, and nothing very much more than that. It was an empty experience for me, nothing spectacular happened during the movie and nothing was brought out of the theater but just a truckload of disappointment, on my part. 

6.5/10