Juno

I’ve been anticipating seeing Juno for the last month, but didn’t catch a scene until recently.  Normally I put my movie reviews in the sidebar, but I’m not sure I can limit myself to only a few sentences here.  Before I even start with praise, criticism, or speculating, I admit that I have an odd, narrow taste in movies.  It would take my wife exactly .2 seconds to agree with this as she graciously puts up with my snobbish picking of movies…many potential date movies have been x-nayed by my ridiculousness.

Juno takes place in the Twin Cities (a place so cold that I dread the possibility of ending up there).  A 16 year-old girl becomes pregnant and makes the decision to give the baby up for adoption to a young couple.  The movie follows her pregnancy and all the intricacies that come along the way.  While this is hardly a new plot, I enjoyed the writing and casting more than previous attempts at this story. 

The casting is terrific!  Ellen Page plays Juno as a quirky, off-beat, teenager who appears to have the intelligence and self-confidence of someone twice her age.  Her comments often leave other character pondering how to respond.  It’s that very sharp and smart humor that Chris Connelly used to perfection back in his MTV News days where you weren’t quite sure if complimenting you or making fun of you.  Jennifer Garner plays the “anticipating adopter-to-be dying to be a mom” character perfectly.  Early in the movie it is easy to dislike her because of her perfection, but easy to love at the end (think Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend’s Wedding).  Michael Cera is the perfect anxious teenage boy (which he has been typecasts to play in his next dozen movies).  You would have to go all the way back to Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club to get an equal comparison.  I also thought J.K. Simmons as the father was a nice touch.  He has a gruffness about him that exclaimates his humor.

The writing was also excellent.  I haven’t enjoyed such great writing for the teenage genre since Mean Girls (Tina Fey is spectacular).  It wasn’t corny, canned, and overgeneralized like most movies of this genre.  However, at times it seemed too smart for its plot (ala Gilmore Girls).  But given the crap that we are usually forced to digest in the art formerly know as cinema, I’ll take this most any day.

Now I know there are some who despise technical reviews of movies and just want it simple.  This paragraph is for you.  Think music and cinematography from Napoleon Dynamite mixed with the dialogue and ”love conquers dysfunction” theme from Little Miss Sunshine applied to a teen pregnancy flick.  Now you know what you are getting into with Juno.

At the time of my writing this I haven’t checked what www.pluggedinonline.com has to say about Juno, but I’m guess it goes along the lines of “contains values contrary to fundamental Christian beliefs, condones teenage pregnancy, and keep your kids away”.  BTW, the site is great for finding out what content is in a movie…I’m just not a fan of their recommendations.  I just checked the site (couldn’t stand the anticipation) and read the following concluding statement: ”For teens themselves, though, who are already swimming in the culture, Juno will only reinforce the complete lack of a moral compass. “

As a Christian, I’m worried about our response to the issues that arise in this movie.  Of course it isn’t great that teens are getting pregnant, nonetheless from friendships rather than romantic relationships.  However, it happens.  It happens to people both in the church and outside it’s pearly gates.  In the church, we too often (myself included) try to make people feel guilty for their sin.  In an age where our nation is dependant on Prozac amid other anti-depressants, I think we feel guilty enough without having the “Sunday suit squad” reinforcing our depravity.  How about some grace?  What if we actually decided to help rather than condemn?  When I find myself in the judgemental mindset, it’s always followed by misery, disillusionment, and feeling unfulfilled.

With mass media being consistently dominated extreme opinions (on both sides), Christians find themselves in the same inner battle that is occurring in Islam.  I know for Christians, the blogosphere is a breath of fresh air because it is where the common and average person can have their voice heard without the backing of companies and organizations trying to sell something.  This is where I hear about Christians doing great things because Jesus has saved them and the Holy Spirit has transformed and renewed their mind and heart.

I think many of us (Christians) would hate Jesus like the Pharisees because he messes up our system.  How evil and sadistic is it that we can celebrate the failure of others because it justifies our standards and statistics.  The Jesus that the Bible speaks about is much more concerned with how we care for people than the sacrifices that we make to feel better about ourselves.  I know that some of my sacrifices are done with a pure heart, but sometimes they are completely self-centered and serve me more than anyone else.  Above all, Jesus is about people, not our standards.  Don’t take this that all people are going to heaven, because they won’t.  Whether they go to heaven or not, Jesus cares for people.

Some may have seen these last few sentences as a tangent, but I beg to differ.  I think our response to a movie like Juno is so important as it is indicative of our attitudes towards real people facing the same real situations.  It is said that art often imitates our reality and our responses to it are no exception.