| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Elliot Page | ... | Juno MacGuff (as Ellen Page) | |
| Michael Cera | ... | Paulie Bleeker | |
| Jennifer Garner | ... | Vanessa Loring | |
| Jason Bateman | ... | Mark Loring | |
| Allison Janney | ... | Bren MacGuff | |
| J.K. Simmons | ... | Mac MacGuff | |
| Olivia Thirlby | ... | Leah | |
| Eileen Pedde | ... | Gerta Rauss | |
| Rainn Wilson | ... | Rollo | |
| Daniel Clark | ... | Steve Rendazo | |
| Darla Fay | ... | Bleeker's Mom (as Darla Vandenbossche) | |
| Aman Johal | ... | Vijay | |
| Valerie Tian | ... | Su-Chin | |
| Emily Perkins | ... | Punk Receptionist | |
| Kaaren de Zilva | ... | Ultrasound Technician (as Kaaren De Zilva) | |
A tale told over four seasons, starting in autumn when Juno, a 16-year-old high-school junior in Minnesota, discovers she's pregnant after one event in a chair with her best friend, Bleeker. In the waiting room of an abortion clinic, the quirky and whip-sharp Juno decides to give birth and to place the child with an adoptive couple. She finds one in the PennySaver personals, contacts them, tells her dad and step-mother, and carries on with school. The chosen parents, upscale yuppies (one of whom is cool and laid back, the other meticulous and uptight), meet Juno, sign papers, and the year unfolds. Will Juno's plan work, can she improvise, and what about Bleeker? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
I was expecting a really honest movie where the humor would come from the funny ways we deal with bad situations. Instead I felt like I was watching the Gilmore Girls. For most of the movie (and it got better in this respect toward the end) Juno's character was devoted to witty commentary, replete with randomly inserted Spanish words ("silencio, old man!") and hipster slang ("rad","boss"), rather than showing any kind of emotional insight. I kept thinking: "Someone needs to tell this girl that she is not Janeane Garofalo." Michael Cera was good as always, but he could have been used a lot more before the latter parts of the movie, particularly in some way that would indicate he was fazed in the slightest by fathering a child. Meanwhile, if anything saved the film it was Jason Bateman's performance. Dead on.
Bottom line: This looked like a film that would be funny because we could all imagine we'd act the same way in a bad situation. Instead, the lines were too pretentiously witty and the characters, particularly Juno, too emotionally numb to strike a chord.