Sunday, December 16, 2007
Shenan and I went to see this Friday, but it was sold out so we saw Beowulf instead. Juno looked pretty great, and had really been hyped up, so I think we were both a little disappointed Friday night. Turns out that I liked the movies about equal, or at least as equally as two movies this different can be liked. That makes Beowulf a pleasant surprise, and Juno maybe a slight letdown.
Juno is basically like a warm-hearted version of Ghostworld. It has a lot of the same type of smart-ass, acid tongue, teenage hipster attitude. Only this time most of the characters are basically good people, and everything is happy at the end.
So this is a funny, sweet and likable movie, but I wasn't exactly bowled over by it's touching insight into human nature, as some reviews had lead me to believe. Ellen Page is good as Juno, but I don't know if being good at snapping off one-liners counts as creating a great character. She does remind me of certain ironic, hispter types I knew in high school. I thought an especially apt detail was that she has this stupid plastic hamburger telephone in her room that looks like a kid's toy or something. It barely works, but it's exactly the kind of stupid, kitschy, ironic crap a kid like Juno would want in her room.
On the other hand, Juno sometimes struck me as a little too fast and too clever and too cool... more like an idealized version of one of these kids. I'm really just nitpicking about this, but I think there is a bit too much of the grownup screenwriter poking through in Juno's dialogue.
I was trying to sort of point out problems I had with the movie, but I think they mostly come down to nitpicks like I mentioned above. So, I'm not really sure why, but Juno for me wasn't as lovable or touching as it was for others. I think maybe I enjoyed the low-key charm of the film a lot more than the bigger, dramatic moments. The most touching moment of the whole film, for me, was one line Michael Cera's character has near the end. And it's coming from a kinda peripheral character and doesn't really have an impact on the central drama.
I have a hard time truly embracing these kinds of movies. I don't like this whole quirky but serious comedy-drama set to mellow folk rocks tunes, Hal Ashby/Wes Anderson knock-off, let's-pretend-to-be-a-little-edgy-but-still-be-a-crowdpleaser genre that seems prevalent these days. Or, at least, I'm not inclined to liking it. Juno is one of the better examples, yeah, but it's like it has to start the exam with 10 points already taken off.
And it falls victim to the worst fault of these kinds of movies: the awful, awful fucking music. It's not nearly as bad as Garden State, which tried to underline every scene with some distracting, moody indie rock in such a way that you know this is significant. This means something. But Juno's soundtrack is still an obnoxious collection of mellow rockers that try sooooo hard to be quirky and funny and lovable that they make me want to vomit. Considering how good the rest of the movie is at being lovable without really trying, it's off-putting how desperately the music wants us to give it a hug and tell it that it's a good little boy. I realized maybe halfway in that the music was from the Moldy Peaches, or at least one of its members, and I really hate their fucking music. But then, I knew a dude in high school not unlike Juno who thought their music was, I dunno, funny or hip or something, so I guess it's accurate to put it in the movie. It still sucks though.
This has been a great year for Michael Cera, what with this and Superbad. And I'm going to have to say, although Juno seems to be getting all the praise and awards-buzz, Superbad was a better, funnier and more insightful teen movie. And I think that's, in part, because of how ambiguous or conflicted Superbad feels. Juno wraps up everything in a neat little bow at the end, and everyone lives happily ever after. That makes for a satisfying movie, but I think Superbad remembers that high school doesn't have a happy ending. It's a weird, confusing, transitional time. If 50 years from now, someone asks me for an example of what being a teenager felt like in my day, I'd point to Superbad before I'd point to Juno. It may be the less realistic of the two, but I still think it's more truthful.
3 comments:
just in regards to the music- i read somewhere that ellen page had a lot to do with the soundtrack, and when the director asked her what kind of music she thought juno would probably listen to, she said the moldy peaches. so there ya go. that's how that happened. according to whatever interview or review or whatever i read that in.
OK, so I guess they were going for accuracy. I still think it hurts the overall movie for me. I mean, just because the main character likes the music doesn't necessarily mean you have to make it the whole soundtrack. A little less quirky acoustic guitar bullshit would have helped.
I mean, I'm sure Luke Skywalker doesn't listen to sweeping orchestral themes in his spare time, but that makes for much better Star Wars then whatever weird electronic-hillbilly hybrid music the kids must listen to on Tatooine. Or maybe they listen to the cantina music, which is cool but I wouldn't want it to comprise the entire score.
I don't know, a whole Star Wars flick composed completely of music from the Max Rebo Band? Sounds like a winner in my book.
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