I'm going to say this now just to have it on record. Don't be surprised if Juno wins the Oscar for Best Picture.
This isn't really a prediction but just me preparing you for what could be the biggest Oscar upset since at least Shakespeare In Love. I know all the press and critics and even some of us here on this very site have declared No Country for Old Men to be this year's cinematic triumph. Yet as I sit here one day removed from seeing Juno I can't help but notice how much I'm still thinking about it. This plucky little comedy about a sixteen-year-old pregnant hipster-to-be could very well be the best movie I've seen all year.
The Academy Awards haven't even been announced but if you've followed the clippings (or saw the list of Golden Globe noms) then you know who the favorites are and Juno is among them. While it seems to occupy the Little Miss Sunshine slot which means there's no way it should, win my thought process says that we've seen big plodding dramas like Atonement or the looks freakin' brilliant There Will be Blood before and we'll see them again. Those kind of movies always do well come awards time while the little indie darlings like LMS or Sideways are destined to walk away with no better than Best Screenplay.
So why could it be different this year? Why should it be Juno? It should be Juno because unlike previous Best Picture winner American Beauty this movie uses cynicism as a front for the sentimentality coursing just underneath the surface of its early moments. Unlike Beauty or Sunshine the focus isn't on the dysfunction of the families but on the function. For a country in which the phrase "family values" is little more than a campaign slogan, here's a film that puts them on full display but does so with hidden grace rarely seen in American cinema.
It's fairly easy to watch this movie and listen to the words coming out of Juno's (soon to be Oscar winner Ellen Page -- that, by the way, is a prediction) mouth and feel like it's just the screenwriter (a.k.a. my newest crush Diablo Cody) cranking out all the one-liners she could think of. It's easy to say that no teenager really talks like that but if you really look at the movie and look at the character, her wise-beyond-her-years speech is a mask for the naivete with which she acts.
This movie should win Best Picture because of the suprising attention to detail given to the dynamics of the relationship between not only Juno and her own parents but also the relationship she forms with the couple she chooses to adopt her baby. First of all, her parents react with just the right amount of suprise and disappointment when Juno tells them of her pregnancy but more importantly they react like...parents. As in they recognize that she may have a smart mouth but she's still a teenager and teenagers tend to do really stupid things. Throughout the movie it's obvious that Juno's father and stepmother genuinely care for her and support her through what is a life-altering screw up. Look at the scene where Juno goes to get her ultrasound: The scene starts off very tender and sweet but quickly turns nasty when the ultrasound tech makes a condescending remark. Juno's stepmother (Allison Janney) steps right in and puts the woman in her place. In my experience that's what parents do, they stick up for you even when you're in the hottest of waters. (May I also note that in most other movies the filmmakers would play up the whole stepdaughter-stepmother rivalry but at no point does that come into play here. A wise choice.)
The biggest surprise to me was the fascinating relationship forged by Juno with the Pennysaver-selected couple who will be the baby's adopted parents. On the surface they appear to be your typical yuppie couple with their nice uppity suburban house and carefully selected furnishings. As we get to know each of them, though, they reveal themselves to be quite different from our initial interpretations. Once Juno discovers that the husband (Jason Bateman) is a reformed rock-n-roller the two bond over punk rock, horror movies, mix CD's and comic books. Meanwhile Bateman's wife (Jennifer Garner!) appears to be stuffy and a bit controlling at first glance. As the movie progresses, however, we not only learn that Bateman may not be as cool as he initially appeared and there's a very tender scene with Garner and Page in a mall that reveals just how much she's ready for motherhood. I'd like to get into this a little bit more but I'll wait until more of you have seen it.
In the end, it's easy to look at the hipness of the film's dialogue, soundtrack choices and pop culture references and dismiss it as another Garden State or Ghost World but it's more original than the former and sweeter than the latter. Yes I said it. It's a sweet movie but don't worry, it never really overdoes it. It's a feel good movie but at no point does it attempt to overwhelm you with sentimentality. Juno works because it properly replicates human nature's tendency to produce unnecessary drama and the levity we could all use to guide us through our mistakes.
