Reviewed by Raymond Yeung 

Fox Searchlight Pictures – 96 Minutes – 2007 – PG 13 – 1080p Widescreen 1.85:1 – 5.1 DTS HD Master Lossless Audio

Oscar nominated for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Motion Picture, and winning the for Academy Award for Best Screenplay, Juno comes to you on Blu-Ray.

The Movie

Ellen Page plays Juno, a quirky teenage girl among a plethora of quirky characters. Quirky in a good way. We all have quirks. If we didn’t we’d act the same and be Japanese.  The quirkiness of the characters is enough to carry a 96 minute movie about unplanned teen pregnancy, a subject that’s been done to death in movies and T.V. series (don’t believe me? Turn on Lifetime now). After all, the difference between being quirky and crazy is the entertainment value.

A strong ensemble of actors is needed to play these unique characters and I don’t think it could have been cast any better. The cast is quite star studded for an indy film.

Ellen Page (X-Men, Hard Candy) gave a tremendous performance as Juno MacGuff. She has all the tools to play a character like Juno, everything from snappy line delivery to well-timed facial expressions. It’s no easy task because the Juno character is complex. She’s pessimistic, dejected, and non-conforming but doesn’t come off as a whiny emo. She has mature taste in music and movies made decades before she was born but doesn’t come off as an arrogant hipster douche bag. She’s smart, has a mastery of sarcasm, and her dialogue is quite witty. Ok let’s not kid ourselves; her dialogue is not very realistic for her age since most teenagers these days are stuck on words like “cool, gay, lame, sweet, awesome” to describe stuff, while Juno says clever things like “You should’ve gone to China, you know, ’cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events. ” But she doesn’t sound overly smart, and ridiculously unrealistic like the teen characters on Dawson’s Creek who all sound like Harvard English professors. Due to the great directing and acting that maintains a balance the dialogue doesn’t seem too contrived.

Michael Cera (Superbad, Arrested Development) plays Paulie Bleeker, Juno’s soft-spoken love interest. If you’ve seen his work from Arrested Development to Superbad, and on talk shows like Conan where he’s himself, the “awkward shy teen” portrayal doesn’t seem like much of an acting stretch. Cera and Page have great chemistry together. Their characters are quite different yet they complement each other really well. Their relationship seemed out of place at first but in the end you can’t help but find them cute together kinda like dogs that are so ugly that they’re adorable.

Rounding out the cast….

J.K. Simmons (Spiderman 1 2 3, Ladykillers, and dozens of other movies and T.V. shows…look it up on imdb.com) plays Juno’s likeable father. He’s a simple blue-collar man that was in the Army and currently works in HVAC. Audiences could observe Juno’s father and see why she is the way she is. Not because they share taste in music but by how his kind, supportive, open-minded nature allows her to be who she is. They do share a unique sense of humor with lines like “And I’m going to punch that Bleeker kid in the weiner the next time I see him”.

Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, The Kingdom, Smoking Aces) and Jennifer Garner (Alias, The Kingdom, Catch and Release) play Mark and Vanessa Loring, the perfect couple on paper who Juno chose to be the parents of her baby. I must say Garner looked incredibly hot as a conservative republican (doesn’t that sound sexy?) yuppie wife who is a perfectionist and is the successful breadwinner in the relationship. She plays the role well with the cold reserved line delivery and her faking being fake on camera. Bateman plays a laid back whipped husband who wouldn’t let go of his dreams of being a rock star. He is still a teenager at heart, which was why he was able to connect with Juno so well. You can’t help but feel sorry for him. He’s the guy in his late 30’s that still wear t-shirts on the outside of a long sleeve shirt. Being nostalgic of the brilliant show Arrested Development I was disappointed that Bateman and Cera didn’t have a scene together. Ironically they were father and son on the show and Cera was Bateman’s “oops baby” that he had when he was a sophomore in college. Oh well… As the movie progresses we learn that they aren’t the perfect couple. The deleted scenes reveal they weren’t perfect people, quite shady actually, with Vanessa being a judgmental bitch and Mark being a loser and somewhat of a pedophile.

As you can see the characters and the actors, especially the leads, really made the movie. The plot is quite predictable but the clever dialogue and sharp smartass wit shown by Juno keeps the audience intrigued.

Video

The video quality of Juno is excellent for what it is, a simply shot indy film. It doesn’t have or need 300’s CGI or Lord of the Rings’ cinematography. It is what it is and it’s great. Presented in 1080p, you will be able to clearly see Jennifer Garners trademark dimples. The opening cartoon title sequence is a treat to watch on this Blu-Ray.

Audio

No complaints of the audio either. The movie does have a great sound track with a collection of classic songs and songs by young amateurish musicians of today (including Cera and Page) both featuring generous use of the acoustic guitar. It’s a good soundtrack to relax to whether you’re sitting in traffic or commuting to work on a Monday.

Special Features

Juno comes with the standard features found on most Blu-ray’s.

-A commentary track with the director Jason Reitman and the screenwriter Diablo Cody.

-Deleted scenes, gag reel, and screen tests.

And several featurettes including…

-A music video with the cast and crew rocking out.

-“Way Beyond “Our” Maturity Level: Juno – Leah – Bleeker” – where the cast and crew discuss their teenage characters and the teens they represent.

-“Diablo Cody is Totally Boss” – a featurette on Diablo Cody an internet blogger turned screenwriter and how the Juno screenplay came about.

-“Jason Reitman is Totally Boss” – a featurette describing the director’s role.

-“Honest to Blog! Creating Juno” – a featurette in which Reitman interviews Cody.

-“WORLD PREMIERE…Juno” – interviews from the FOX premiere of Juno

Juno comes with a second disc containing the digital copy of Juno which you would transfer to your iTunes or Windows Media Player to be used on your iPod, Zune, or other PMP.

Bottom Line

Juno is an excellent sweet little movie. It’s the best indy movie of 2007. The Blu-Ray itself is average. It comes with everything you would expect and a little more with the secondary PMP copy. It’s worth the $30 or so bucks.

SCORES (Out of 5):

The Movie: 5.0
Video: 4.0
Sound: 4.0
Extras: 3.5
Bottom Line: 4.5