I feel that the 2000s is the last great era for the teen/high school films. While the whole teenage experience is so much complex compared to how it was in decades past, it’s mostly tough to try and replicate it in the times that we live in. I’ve already talked about Mean Girls a while back and I haven’t had the chance to look at Superbad. While I’ll state that Mean Girls is the best high school film of the 2000s, Juno is the best teenage film of that decade.
1. Four Seasons of Juno
Might as well detail how I encountered the film, I believe that my mom took me and my brother to watch it, since she wanted to watch it. I didn’t quite get it since I was transitioning from being a kid to a teenager. Like, the film is sort of like a gateway to being a mature teenager or being more aware of what’s going on beyond my usual interests that kept me going. Much like Napoleon Dynamite, I kept going back and rewatching the film. Due to how Fox Searchlight Pictures managed to make the films be so different from what I was acclimated at the time.
Well with that, the film is about Juno. Who would’ve guessed right? Now, you and I both know that the actor who portrayed the title character is no longer a woman. Due to the fact that I don’t know how to properly refer to Elliot Page as a person who transitioned, I’ll just refer to Juno as is. So, we follow Juno as she gets knocked up by her friend Paulie. We see just how she deals with being pregnant and ultimately deciding to give the child up for adoption.
As far as I know, this is the first film that manages to talk about the idea of teenage pregnancy and showcase it for a domestic audience. A massive shift in the teen films where the main basis were the idea of freedom and introspection. I can imagine that it had some level of controversy due to how taboo it was to have that be the basis for a film Mind you, it’s been going on and probably will go on but oh the audacity of having be on the silver screen for a bunch of curious teenagers to see. Like, I believe that a few years later after the film came out MTV released the show 16 & Pregnant, along with multiple spin-offs.
What makes the film work is that Juno is the forefront of the whole movie. We get to see an understanding of who she is as she’s pregnant. As well as how her family and friends take it as she breaks the news to them. I feel that the moment when she breaks the news to her parents is probably the only moment of grounded realism is shown in any movie. One would expect that they’re upset and want the head of Michael Cera’s character. Their reactions are just subdued and accepting since, well the deed was done and it’s more reflective of the character that they’re raising.
To elaborate, it’s the kind of thing that they’d expect of Juno since they initially thought that she got expelled from school. Additionally, what makes Juno the character work is that she’s not attractive, she’s not a shining beacon of a teenager, but just a regular girl who got pregnant. For one thing she’s immature as she has a nonchalance attitude of the whole ordeal. She’s a slacker who has a care-free attitude and slowly wises up when she meets the adoptive family. So much so that everything that she does for the baby doesn’t involve the guy that she banged.
It's what makes her a complex person since she’s in high school and practically has to mentally grow up quicker with what she wants best for her child. The best moment involving her character is when she’s arguing with Paulie. Both snapping at each other for not being involved at the ultra sound and taking another girl to prom. For Juno, she has to deal with being pregnant while Paulie doesn’t have to worry about the baggage of being the unintentional center of attention. I would’ve at least liked more moments with him, but I’m okay with him just being the foil for Juno as she realizes that she has genuine feelings for him. 
2. Growing Up
Much like all the other films that I covered for the month, this film is ultimately about growing up. Some may consider this movie to be about pregnancy, it is at the forefront. Although, when you peel the layers to this one it’s really about Juno wanting the idea of a good family raising her child. We see the family as Juno and her Dad visit them to see if they’ll be okay with the adoption arrangement.
I love how there’s a seemingly good connection between the wife and husband. Jennifer Garner nails the role to the tee and Jason Bateman does a good job too. The moments between Juno and Bateman’s character Mark is seemingly quirky until you realize that it gets uncomfortable. They bond over the music that they like and stuff that is considered underground. It’s one of those things where Mark hasn’t grown up and Juno doesn’t know the line between showing an interest and knowing boundaries.
It shows just how much Juno is like Mark and not like Garner’s Vanessa. Juno doesn’t want to be involved with the baby and acts like herself with her friend. The moment when she sees Vanessa at the mall reinforces that she is the clear example of the perfect mother. There’s even a moment that I like involving the both Mark and Vanessa as they’re painting the nursery. She is wearing a band shirt that is covered in paint while Mark is kind of protecting his shirt with a flannel one. Indicating that he doesn’t want to let go of his dream and be a Dad.
Juno really gets put through the ringer when she sees the inevitable breakup of the adoptive family. It’s a tough scene since she gets a wake-up call that she had no good reason to visit the husband and seemingly has her world view break at that moment. I feel that her Dad is her voice of reason and the scene involving the both of them is heart-warming and what probably got J.K. Simmons his Academy award. He assures her that someone will love her regardless of any circumstance and it helps rebuild Juno’s world.
3. Overall
Juno is the rare example of being a great teen film and one of the best films of the 2000s.
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