I was listening to a podcast about Inception the other day, and the conversation turned to Ellen Page. And I started thinking, hey, why don’t I see her in more stuff, and why is she getting crappy roles like the Flatliners remake? All of these thoughts originated because of Juno, a well written study of teen pregnancy, which holds up because of the dialogue and just insanely talented cast, anchored by the criminally underused in Hollywood Page. I mean, come on….she had a kid and then folded Paris on top of itself and helped Wolverine time travel! What more do you want, casting directors?
Juno is Page’s character’s name, a 16 year old girl who just found out she got pregnant via her flirt friend Paulie (Michael Cera). After dismiss abortion as an option, Juno tells her supportive parents Mac (JK Simmons) and Bren (Allison Janney) she wants to give the baby away. To do this, she finds a couple in the Pennysaver that want a baby, Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), the seemingly perfect place for her kid to be raised.
Juno has not aged as well as I’d hoped in part because of the behind the screen talent. You could argue this movie is both Diabolo Cody’s and Jason Reitman’s Apex (his first 3 efforts are quite amazing: this, Up in the Air, and my personal favorite Thank You for Smoking); the last decade or so has been VERY bad for them. In Juno, they’re both in peak form. Cody’s screenplay took a former stripper to the Academy Awards. I worried on rewatch that the dialogue would be too cute, and that only really happens during Juno’s pregnancy test scene with Rainn Wilson who delivers dialogue like a manic pixie dream robot. But after that, the movie uses a breezy relaxing speech pattern until it needs to get serious, and then it does, like the terrific Juno/Paulie prom confrontation. Reitman also risks becoming overly twee with the layout of Juno’s room and the “See, I’m totally cool!” soundtrack. However, Reitman pulls back at the right times, also balancing very well the relaxing tone with heavy serious moments; that scene in the pulled over van hits you like a bag of bricks because of just how hard it must be for a 16 year old to keep it together with all this awful heavy stuff around. I have come to the belief that Juno taught Reitman and Cody all the wrong lessons and might have torpedoed their career arcs, but Juno is a proud reminder of what they are capable of if they drown out all the extra noise.
It’s also easy for Reitman and Cody to look great because of how stellar the cast of this movie is. Before we get to Page, the rest of the cast is totally impressive. Olivia Thirlby is really kinda creepy and kinda fun as Juno’s best friend, and is given enough personality to not feel like a prop. Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman are shockingly complex as the to-be parents. Garner was always a badass, but in Juno she gets to be vulnerable and really convey a whole bevy of emotions. Bateman is even better, channeling Michael Bluth’s smugness and narcissism into a seemingly likable guy. This was the first hint that Bateman has layers he can play, and explains why he deserves to get top billing in all sorts of roles. JK Simmons and Allison Janney were always going to bring it. Janney gets to dress down people like a boss and nail her emotional stuff when it comes up, and Simmons is perfectly at home in the warm, friendly dad who can quip and teach at the same time. Michael Cera also hit his apex in 2007. Fresh off of Superbad, he did this film, cementing his type casting as the sweet, maybe overly naive teen love interest. In Juno, Cody’s dialogue gives Cera lots of emotions to play and the guy nails all of them. But Page, as Juno says, is a planet. Her breakout role was in Hard Candy the year before, but Juno elevated Page into the stratosphere. She easily nails the light, mildly condescending tone and makes everyone wish that everything works out for her. But when sh*t starts hitting the fan, Page delivers all the emotions necessary without compromising the character, the progression from the van breakdown to the note on Vanessa’s door to talking to her dad covers all sorts of acting challenges where Page hits the target every single time.
Movies like Juno are tricky to pull off, because you have to execute tone and dialogue in a way that people can relate to and aspire to be at the same time. It’s amazing when it comes together like this, cause if one piece of the puzzle is off, you get Diabolo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body. As funny and underrated as that movie has become (a hook-for-a-hand JK Simmons tells a group of kids “We can’t let the fire win” is f’ing hilarious), no one really cares or remembers it, but Ellen Diabolo Cody, the supporting cast, Jason Reitman, and Ellen Page makes sure that Juno’s planet stays in orbit for a long time.