Juno (2007, Jason Reitman)

...and 2007 just keeps on turning out the goods. I wrote about how 2007 has shaped up to be what might be the best year that this decade has offered us so far and this is further proof of it.

Juno is another perfect film from a year that has given us many, at least in my opinion, of course. I once again find myself at odds on what to write. I once read that it is far easier to write about a bad film than it is to write about a great film and I have been experiencing this lately. I feel that everything that I could write about this film has already been said and written about many times before by far more better writers. Heck, just read the Ebert quote on the poster and you will basically find everything that I would write about it in one quote.

One of the many praises the film has gotten has been Diablo Cody's script and in my years of being a film buff I have never seen a writer get as much attention and hype as her. Kauffman comes close but this woman is the definition of being the "it girl". So, when I entered the theater to see this one I was really looking forward to how great it would actually be and if it would live up to the hype to the almighty Cody. In a very simple sentence - it does.

Juno is a film that has so much heart, honesty, and such a hopeful look at life that it is extremely hard not to like. The characters are simple, the plot is simple, the direction is even great but simple. It's the strength in the screenwriting that sells the film and adds that extra kick that makes it stand out so much.

What Juno also has which makes it one of the best films of the year is the number of small moments between the actors which just hit you at the heart. Sure, the film may be fun and laughs for the most part but when the film goes into "serious mode" it will get to you. It may not make you cry (it did to a couple of people around me) but it will make you go "awwwwww" because it just feels so sweet, honest, and innocent. There no melodrama to be found here.

I can't really say much else about it. I feel like just listing all the scenes that made me love it but that would spoiling it. I will say that 2 scenes towards the end just made the film to me. The first of these 2 scenes is towards the end and is one of the sweetest scenes I have seen in a long time. I will say that it involves Michael Cera and that this film fully convinced me of the talent that he has possessed since Arrested Development and will continue to have. I really hope that he goes places.

The other scene of the 2 that i mentioned is the ending. I wont give it away, of course, but it is just a perfect ending to a perfect little film.

And that is what it really is, a perfect little film.

- ***1/2