Reaction: JUNO

I will catch up before the day ends…I will catch up before the day ends…

Sorry – just having a Stuart Smalley moment here, at least this reaction will get yesterday’s experiences over and done with. So the last movie of the night was JUNO (****), the latest film by director Jason Reitman. Reitman’s THANK YOU FOR SMOKING got the film festival all in a tither two years ago, and it looks like a sophomore slump was never on his mind. It’s about Juno (Ellen Page) a 16 year old who gets pregnant by a guy she likes (Michael Cera, who can do no wrong these days), and decides her best plan is to give it up for adoption to a couple (Jason Bateman & Jennifer Garner) she hears about in the sort of free newspaper you pick up at a grocery store. The movie is hi-larious, and is sure to be a hit.

The screening was an event within itself. You have to love it when a twenty-something dressed in a high school cross-country running outfit hands you a free pack of orange Tic-Tacs and says “It’ll make sense once you watch the film”. Every major star of the movie showed up, and Garner’s hubby Ben Affleck also caused that “Oh look” buzz in the crowd. Juno got a much deserved standing ovation (second I’ve witnessed this year).

The story is by a fantastic writer named Diablo Cody, and I’m going to end off this post by giving her a very specific praise. I’ve flipped past The Gilmore Girls from time to time, and it drives me nuts – because nobody talks the way Rory and Lorelai do. No one can spit out that many references, that fast, that often. No one. I drop pop culture references in everyday conversation…perhaps too often…but they beat me in spades.

Diablo Cody’s script gives every actor a moment to have an amazingly witty and funny answer, often with a pop culture reference. But she has done it in a way that I can imagine real people doing. Her story is a great one, and you should see it.

Juno has another screening happening Monday, 3pm at Ryerson Theatre.