Saturday, June 21, 2008

World's Shortest Movie Review: "Juno"

Summary: A miniature Janine Garofalo gets pregnant and decides to give her baby to a woman who is probably the sister of Charlotte from Sex & the City (middle-class uptightness personified).
The Bottom Line: Some great moments, some killer lines, a decent story with a few nicely fleshed-out characters. Obnoxious soundtrack. In no way representative of actual pregnant teenagers, who are generally moody ditzes complaining unceasingly about the limited fashion range of maternity clothes. I would know - I'm from Minnesota, and plenty of my classmates were "Junos". I worry a little bit that some girls will see this film and think it's fun and easy to have a baby in grade 11.

And speaking of pregnant teenagers, this is total b.s. Shit, in high school my girlfriends and I couldn't even agree on which movie to see. No way could more than 3-4 girls be in on this, unless it was some kinda online thing like those wacky Japanese kids with their suicide pacts. This is just a convenient way to blame your peers and maybe get a reduction in your grounding time.

6 comments:

tshsmom said...

Didn't Juno's family remind you of ours? I LOVED the part where her step-mom ripped the ultra-sound tech a new one!

I disagree that this film contributed to that mess in Mass. You already know that I blame the parents and the school system for making it too easy for teen moms.

Too many parents totally take over with the care of the babies, while their titty-biscuit daughters continue with their social lives and extra-curricular activities. Then the other girls think having a baby is easy and fun, while the teen fathers become heroes for being such a stud.

I always loved your approach to the wannabe teen moms:"Get a hamster and see if you can keep THAT alive, before you decide to get pregnant!"

S.M. Elliott said...

I loved Juno's family...hilarious. "When you move out, I'm getting Weimaraners." ;D
Of course the pregnancy problem is rooted in self-esteem, parenting, and community issues. I don't think the movie would cause girls to run out and get pregnant, but it might reiniforce their crazy ideas that 15 or 16 is the ideal age to have a baby.

Laura said...

Hee. I liked the wittiness of Juno, but yes, it glamorizes teen pregnancy a bit. One would hope that since prostitution didn't increase as a result of Pretty Woman that teen pregnancy won't increase as a result of Juno though...

That story about those girls is totally stupid. What is with them? It's possible they made a pact. I went to high school with a girl who deliberately got pregnant to try and keep her boyfriend from fucking other girls... it worked out well.

Teenagers are stupid. And we all know that those promises we made to our friends when we were 16 were totally set in stone and all were kept, right?

A friend of mine and his wife just recently had a baby. She had kids when she was young and her girls are now 12 and 14 I think. The best birth control is having to be around and help take care of a newborn...

S.M. Elliott said...

"The best birth control is having to be around and help take care of a newborn..."

Hell yes. Used properly, infants could prevent more teen pregnancies than a Grand Canyon full of condoms.
A lot of the girls I knew did get pregnant deliberately, but I just can't picture nearly 20 girls making an agreement to get pregnant and actually sticking to it. But, then again, the news reports say it's a small community where not much is happening. I guess it's possible.
Richard is awed by the fact that women could get together and agree to raise their children all at the same time. He thinks it would be pretty cool, applied to older women.

Laura said...

Sex is the leading cause of babies!

That should be the new sex ed slogan across the country.

tshsmom said...

LOL Laura! SME was 14 when I had Z...best teen sex deterrent EVER! When her friends would say they wanted to have a baby in high school, she'd ask them if they knew what kind of life-sucking drain a baby is. Then she'd tell them to get a hamster. If the hamster lived, they could work their way up to a dog.

SME also didn't think it was fair that she had to carry around a flour-sack "baby" for health class. She already knew what a huge PIA a baby and pregnancy was. SME does enjoy her brother now though. ;)