Juno not Juneau

I just got back from watching new indie sleeper hit - Juno. It's the story of Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page - Hard Candy) a teenage girl that's up the proverbial duff to her boyfriend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera - Arrested Development/Superbad). As the title character Juno, Page is just hilarious - her delivery is fantastic and you can't help but love her offbeat style.

Affleck's squeeze - Jennifer Garner also puts in a decent turn with the always funny Jason Bateman as the childless couple that Juno is going to adopt her child out to.

At first I did wonder if the film had something of an agenda with its overly negative portrayal of an abortion clinic, but then it became obvious that like director, Jason Reitman's, previous effort, the excellent Thank You for Smoking, the film maker is taking the piss out of both sides.

The film is kind of like this year's Little Miss Sunshine or Sideways (although that was over-rated - if they were women it would have been dismissed as a chick flick) and I wouldnt be surprised if the writer, Diablo Cody, picked up the best original screenplay Oscar. Also there is a very good interview with Cody in the latest Aussie Empire - this is her first effort writing, and she wrote it while working as a stripper.

Also after growing up listening to early 90s grunge, I had a particular soft spot for the music. Belle and Sebastian popperd up a few times too. There's a great line where after listening to Sonic Youth on the recommendation of Bateman's character, Juno says "Oh I listened to more Sonic Youth. It sucks, it's just noise!" lol touche indeed. Although out of a crowd of 50 or so middle aged people and a few teenagers, I was the only one who laughed at the reference.

Anyway, if you got into Little Miss Sunshine, I think you will love this.