Imagine a 16-year-old high-school junior from Minnesota learning in the fall of the school year that a single intimate encounter has left her pregnant. Imagine then, at the abortion clinic, that the girl decides to take the baby to term and offer the baby up for adoption. The Jason Reitman directed coming-of-age story that we look at today is Juno (2007), which was first released fifteen years ago.
Elliot Page portrayed the title character of Juno MacGuff, the birth mother and girlfriend to Paulie Bleeker, the father of Juno’s child. When Juno learns of her pregnancy, she and Paulie have not yet formalized their notion of being a couple. Contemplating what to do with the pregnancy in the face of this, Juno turns to her friend, Leah, to help consider her next course of action. Olivia Thirlby portrayed Leah. The initial options struck upon do include abortion and adoption, with sharpness of teenage perspective in the title character seizing the day.
Michael Cera portrayed Paulie Bleeker, the biological father of Juno’s child. It is following the decision to seek an adoption for the child that Juno and Leah decide upon to seek a couple to adopt Juno’s child through the newspaper. The explicit emotional support beyond Leah that Juno seeks comes from her father Mac and her stepmother, Bren. J.K. Simmons portrayed Mac MacGuff as Allison Janney portrayed Bren MacGuff; both parents offer understanding and emotional support.
Juno establishes contact with Vanessa and Mark Loring, who are looking to adopt a child. Juno agrees to a closed adoption with the Lorings, bolstered in part by a shared interest in punk rock and horror movies with Mark. Juno and Leah later see Vanessa being completely at ease with a child at a shopping mall, which points to the notion of this particular couple as the future mother of the child made by Paulie and Juno.
Mark and Vanessa were portrayed by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, respectively. When the visits Juno makes through her pregnancy to continue bonding with the prospective parents of her child, Mark confesses first to Juno and then to Vanessa that he is not ready to be a father. As the Loring marriage seems to be heading to divorce, Juno struggles with her emotions for Paulie Beeker. With guidance from her own father in reconciling her feelings, Beeker and the young MacGuff realize genuine love for each other. This is put to the test later in the movie as the pangs of labor occur within the context of the Loring divorce, a track meet for Paul Beeker, and confusion over what comes next.
The movie Juno does bring the question of what comes next, as evidenced by the Academy Award win for original screenplay by Diablo Cody. The facing of unplanned pregnancy at multiple levels combined with a healthy sense of engaging with significant people in her life that mostly acquitted themselves well emotionally, with relevant complexities for a comedy drama made for uplifting entertainment. The messaging in the film largely attempts to speak to the better instincts for how to engage in the subject matter around choices being available and chosen. I grant Juno as directed by Jason Reitman 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Wednesday, January 12, 2021
Matt Lynn Digital 