If you have a teen, tween daughter, son, nephew, or niece parents of one with an open mind, rent this DVD or better yet buy it and watch it with them and let them keep it.
I'll admit when I first heard about a movie about teen pregnancy that was up for multiple Oscars I had the usual knee jerk Archie Bunker reactions. What the hell could this be all about? Still I vowed to wait until I saw the movie. Last weekend I finally saw it.
Ellen Page starred as the teen in the ultimate dilemma who seemed to have an answer for everything but was crumbling underneath. She did have a fair number of supports at home and at school but she was scared stiff. Who knew that The Pennysaver would solve her adoption woes.
The scene in the abortion clinic was priceless. She should have won the Oscar for her performance, not the screenplay.
The movie is brilliant. Not because it provides a roadmap for young mothers and fathers scared to death in an unplanned pregnancy.
It is brilliant because it asks the right questions, shows where support can lie and offers hope that there is life beyone unanswered questions and fears raised by questions that cannot be quickly answered. It stretches your ideas on what the right and wrong answers could be.
Look out for the stepmom's fierce mothering instincts in the ultrasound sound clinic scene. You will want to cheer for her and for Juno (Page). I give Juno 5 buckets of popcorn out of 5 for honesty and hope.
After the ridiculous story we heard out of the Northeastern US of 17 teenage girls getting pregnant three weeks ago, this movie could serve as a bridge between parents who cop out and fail to talk to their teens about sexuality and birth control and teens who may act like they know all the questions but are really longing to ask questions of those who have been there.
Juno struck a chord and won awards because it showed exactly how uncomfortable we all are with unplanned pregnancies, teenage sex and puberty but it went past the uncomfortable feelings and found some solutions. No perfect endings. Just attempts to make the best of out of situations that are common to us all.
