{"id":1555,"date":"2007-12-17T15:11:30","date_gmt":"2007-12-17T15:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2007\/12\/juno-an-unexpectedly-great-mov.html"},"modified":"2007-12-17T15:11:30","modified_gmt":"2007-12-17T15:11:30","slug":"juno-an-unexpectedly-great-mov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/12\/juno-an-unexpectedly-great-mov.html","title":{"rendered":"‘Juno’: The ‘Sweet Jesus Miracle’ of an Unexpected Pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JunoMovie.jpg\"Only the hardest of hearts will be immune to “Juno<\/a>.” Jason Reitman\u2019s latest film about a high school girl named Juno MacGuff who gets pregnant the very first time she has sex with her sweet-natured, timid childhood friend, Paulie Bleeker, is sarcastically funny (though never darkly so), and at times, unexpectedly touching.
\nMaybe it\u2019s the spot-on soundtrack, filled with the kind of soulful but eccentric-voiced girl-band tunes I listened to back in the day which captured me the moment the lights went dark. Maybe it\u2019s the \u201cChasing Amy\u201d-style, fast-paced, insightful yet funny yet oddly real and playful dialogue by screenwriter Diablo Cody<\/a> that got to me and everyone else in the packed-to-the-brim theater where I saw the film. Or maybe it\u2019s the unbelievable, bitter-yet-vulnerable-heart-on-her-sleeve acting by Ellen Page (Juno), who you will forget is actually acting the moment her face hits the screen, not to mention the great supporting cast which includes Michael Cera (Bleeker, aka, the de-flower-er), Allison Janney (remember CJ from “West Wing”?), Jennifer Garner, and J.K. Simmons, among others, that does the trick.
\nWhatever it is, I assure you that this film will capture you somehow. It will have you laughing and crying and strangely moved by the time the credits roll.<\/p>\n


\nReitman wastes no time and lands us smack in the middle of Juno\u2019s teen pregnancy crisis–the movie\u2019s very first scene is Juno\u2019s guzzling of a jug of SunnyD so she can take her third pregnancy test of the day. There\u2019s no doubt about it: She\u2019s pregnant, literally seeing the \u201cplus sign\u201d on the stick as a strange, grotesque cross that she must now bear. Initially, Juno simply assumes she will have an abortion. But she soon finds she can\u2019t go through with it. At the clinic Juno is met with every clich\u00e9 in the book, somehow portrayed with humor and a respectful sensitivity. There is the Christian protester outside, begging her to have the baby; the everywhere-pierced, foul-mouthed, irreverent receptionist; the dank and scary waiting room.
\nAll of these together send Juno running out the door and into what will be some of the most trying, yet most meaningful nine months of her young life.
\nJuno is going to give her baby up for adoption.
\nBetween Juno\u2019s biting tongue and her family\u2019s supportive, eccentric attitude about their daughter\u2019s unexpected \u201ccondition,\u201d there is a wellspring of honest emotion bubbling up throughout this story. There are also some remarks–at-times hilarious, at others touching–about faith in the middle of Juno\u2019s trials: Step Mom\u2019s comment about how some couple is going to find Juno\u2019s predicament a \u201csweet Jesus miracle,\u201d Juno\u2019s ruminations about how, \u201clike, maybe someone will canonize me, or something,\u201d on behalf of her selfless decision about the baby. She quips that her belly is a \u201csacred vessel\u201d–a statement made in jest, yet as the movie progresses, it seems apt and beautiful and true for this wondrous, complicated young girl who both falls in sweet, first love and experiences the agony and joy of pregnancy all at once.
\nWhen the lights finally went up, nobody moved. We all sat until the very last name rolled by and the very last note still lingered in the speakers.
\nI already bought the soundtrack. I might go back for a second screening. This is a must-see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only the hardest of hearts will be immune to “Juno.” Jason Reitman\u2019s latest film about a high school girl named Juno MacGuff who gets pregnant the very first time she has sex with her sweet-natured, timid childhood friend, Paulie Bleeker, is sarcastically funny (though never darkly so), and at times, unexpectedly touching. Maybe it\u2019s the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies"],"yoast_head":"\n'Juno': The 'Sweet Jesus Miracle' of an Unexpected Pregnancy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/12\/juno-an-unexpectedly-great-mov.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Juno': The 'Sweet Jesus Miracle' of an Unexpected Pregnancy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Only the hardest of hearts will be immune to “Juno.” Jason Reitman\u2019s latest film about a high school girl named Juno MacGuff who gets pregnant the very first time she has sex with her sweet-natured, timid childhood friend, Paulie Bleeker, is sarcastically funny (though never darkly so), and at times, unexpectedly touching. 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