Reviewing the Reviewers: Music Critic says No to ‘Juno’
Ellen Page in Juno
From time to time I like to take a look at what other people are saying about a movie I’ve reviewed, especially when my opinion doesn’t seem to match up with the majority. This week I think it’s about time I owned up to my minority stand by examining the Juno Juggernaut.
Still feeling logie from a Thanksgiving hangover perhaps, in early December I announced my belief that Juno might be a popular success, but not an Oscar favorite. Though it’s a nearly unanimous Top 5 pick for a nomination according to Movie City News’ Gurus of Gold (and it also registers healthily on the Buzzmeter of the LA Times Envelope section, but frankly the amount of awards fawning done by a major city newspaper [the major city I happen to live in no less] in lieu of actual, you know, news, kind of makes me sick to my stomach so it only gets a parenthetical aside and no link), it’s still too early to make an Oscar call, but I admit the odds are probably against me on this score.
Oscar nominee or no, one thing is for sure: Juno is definitely a phenomenon unimpeded by the little 2.5 out of 5 rating I gave it in my review. Streaking past $70 million at the box office this weekend, it shows no signs of running out of gas. Critically it maintains a perfect 100% among the Cream of the Crop at Rotten Tomatoes and a healthy Metacritic score of 81.
- Roger Ebert is effusive with unqualified praise calling it “just about the best movie of the year.” Roger wants to give Juno a big hug and he almost convinces me that I do too.
- In the New Yorker, David Denby might not want to hug Juno, but he probably wouldn’t say no if she offered him a glass of Sunny D laced with Metamucil. He calls it “a coming-of-age movie made with idiosyncratic charm and not a single false note.”
- Carina Chocano of the LA Times says “Juno is hilarious and sweet-tempered, perceptive and surprisingly grounded.”
- Even friends of Living in Cinema are against me on this one. Chuck at Bowen’s Cinematic begrudgingly warmed up to it, giving it 3 out of 4 stars. At Fataculture, Nick Plowman is unrestrained in his enthusiasm. He loved Juno giving it a perfect 5 stars and naming it to his Top 10 of 2007.
Finding people who agree with me has proven difficult. There aren’t many of you. Among the blogs I traffic, Matthew Lucas’ From the Front Row is about the only one who generally sees it my way. He gives Juno 2.5 out of 4 stars. Elsewhere, there are a few other sourpusses to be found who actually disliked the thing more than I did. At eFilmCritic, David Cornelius amusingly dismisses the film as “a vintage lunch box purse with nothing in it.” while at Film Freak Central, Walter Chaw pins the blame on the screenplay saying “Diablo Cody crams so many unlikely gluts of verbiage into so many sterile, undeveloped characters that the whole production is the ultimate act of masturbatory puppetry.”
More recently, Chicago Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis jumped on the anti-Juno bandwagon. Staking his dubious authority on being an “unapologetically old-school feminist, the father of a soon-to-be-teenage daughter, a reporter who regularly talks to actual teens as part of his beat and a plain old moviegoer,” DeRogatis said:
Here is a 29-year-old screenwriter (Cody) and a 30-year-old director (Reitman) brainstorming with a nearly 21-year-old actress (Page) and deciding that the intentionally primitive and infantile sounds recorded by a 35-year-old musician (Kimya Dawson) epitomize “the music that the kids today really listen to.” This sort of contrivance hardly smacks of the honesty and humor the filmmakers brag about, and which many critics have hailed.
It’s a promising start and a fair criticism I think, but DeRogatis’ real agenda gradually becomes clear and his argument begins to unravel later in the column. It turns out he just really really hates Kimya Dawson who, he complains, “attempts to channel her own inner infant with deliberately sing-song vocals, beyond-amateurish musicianship and faux-juvenile lyrics.” She is fingernails on a chalkboard to this guy and the Juno soundtrack is lousy with her, both solo and as half of Moldy Peaches.
This alone is probably enough to turn DeRogatis off, but then Juno (the character) commits the unpardonable sin: she has the temerity to scoff at DeRogatis’ beloved Melvins and Sonic Youth, the latter of whom she rejects outright as “just a lot of noise.” I can picture DeRogatis bristling as this annoying little chippy invades his musical territory. To him these aren’t just the opinions of Juno, they’re the opinions of the filmmakers and they’re reason enough for him to reject the movie totally. It’s pretty bogus justification for a bad review and I’m not really buying it. DeRogatis just comes off as a grouch.
The negative reviews aren’t much help in getting me to understand what my problem with Juno is so I turn back to the raves. This brings me to a refrain I hear repeated over and over even in the positive reviews.
- In the NY Times, A.O. Scott put it like this: “I spent the first 15 minutes or so gnashing my teeth and checking my watch. The passive-aggressive pseudo-folk songs, the self-consciously clever dialogue, the generic, instantly mockable suburban setting — if you can find Sundance on a map, you’ll swear you’ve been here before.”
- In Salon, Stephanie Zacharek worries through the first 20 minutes that Juno “appears to be one of those movies clogged with quotation marks.”
- Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwartzbaum takes even longer to warm up to the film. She says “Juno begins at such a pitch of hyperverbal smart-mouthing, not only by the title character but also by everyone around her, that it takes about a half hour for the movie’s long-term plans to make tolerable sense and for the laugh-baiting banter to calm down.”
These each sound like the beginning of a pan and echo some of the criticisms of the movie I share, but then a funny thing happens: each one of these reviewers eventually warms up to the movie’s charms. Scott for example ultimately says “Juno (which played at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals, not the one in Park City, Utah) respects the idiosyncrasies of its characters rather than exaggerating them or holding them up for ridicule. And like Juno herself, the film outgrows its own mannerisms and defenses, evolving from a coy, knowing farce into a heartfelt, serious comedy.” Scott’s leap is one I never made. For me, Juno started on a false note, went into a 90 minute tailspin and while I never actually saw it crash and burn, it flew behind a mountain and was never heard from again.
Now, here I am. I find myself pulled over to the side of the cinematic road, poorly folded map in hand, trying to figure out where I missed my turn while everyone else is already at the party enjoying themselves. I think the clue is in the last line of the Scott quote: “…like Juno herself, the film outgrows its own mannerisms and defenses…” Scott is equating the character with the film here. He believes that the annoying, ironic, defensive pose struck by the film is a reflection of the one shared by Juno the girl. To Scott, when the film drops its attitude, so does young Ms. MacGuff. The result is that where I see the film reaching for an unearned emotional payoff at the end, Scott sees honesty and growth on the part of a scared, confused 16-year-old girl.
For Scott, I suspect this makes all the difference and it might have for me also. My feelings leaving the theater were that I wished the movie had either been funnier or that the emotional ending hadn’t felt like an afterthought. Given one or the other, I think I might have written a more positive review. The question now is whether I’d feel differently if I saw the movie again. I don’t think I’ll ever find it as hilarious as some of you did, but maybe if I can find the real beating heart inside of it, I might just come around and give Juno a big Ebertian hug.
Maybe.
You’ll find a kindred spirit in Dennis Cozzalio over at Sergio Leone’s infield fly rule. He goes so far as to call it the worst of the year. It’s over http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2008/01/slifr-top-11-10-2007-year-in-review.html here (hope the link works), if you scroll alllllll the way down.
Well, personally I like the fact that you’re a curmudgeon, Craig. A rather cuddly curmudgeon, but a curmudgeon nonetheless. Good aliteration, huh?
Neat….
I wholeheartedly LOVED Juno & I didn’t even expect to like it.
I am really happy that your article was even handed. You didn’t like the film but took exception to the reviewers that you felt didn’t give it a fair shake.
It really is impossible to enjoy everything. When I don’t like something that everyone else is going for I think of myself as a maverick. As someone who is comfortable enough to create a path for herself & who has no need to be part of the herd. Though I consider myself to diverge from the mainstream in a lot of cases, I have adored some things that were popular & well loved by many. That’s fine by me too.
As long as it’s not every time. LOL
Craig, I doubt seriously that another trip to the cinema to see Juno is going to change your perspective. It MAY. But I don’t think so.
I thought it was wonderful. So do lots of others. But that doesn’t matter. IMO you should revel in your non-Junoness. Strike a tough non-Juno pose. Stand tall. Tell all your friends that you didn’t like Juno & exactly why. Be celebratory in your opposition to Juno. Play Sonic Youth loudly & proudly, seeing as Juno had great disdain for that “noise”. Tell everyone that you know about the great youth culture/teen movies that you think are meaningful & have great impact on the culture at large & then say snidely, “Unlike Juno.” Thumb your nose at Juno. Say no to Juno. Throw a non-Juno party.
Remember, Craig, if you don’t like Juno then it’s an unqualified vote for subversion & anarchy.
And we all need more of those….
That’s funny because I couldn’t wait to see the film again, just to see if it can live up to the hype I created about the film in my own head, but when I did, nothing had changed. I love Juno, I too wish I could *hug* the film. I actually won’t rest until I figure out a way to physically hug a film.
So many films this year have been heavy and had darker themes, maybe I was desperate for something a little easy going, but the fact that you didn’t enjoy it as much me is cool, different strokes….
If you must see Juno again to see if you would change your mind about the film, I would like you to, even if it doesn’t change your perspective, but do what ever you feel necessary Craig.
The only beating heart I saw in the film came from Jennifer Garner. And while DeRogatis’ problems with the film are mostly different from my own, I thought he had a couple of good points.
It’s kind of sad, I was almost more elated that “Juno” went 0 for 3 at the Golden Globe last night than I was about any of the winners… I almost didn’t care who beat it, even if I’ve been backing Marion Cotillard since June.
There was an entertaining Answer Man response (from a reader) over at Ebert’s site questioning those that who don’t like Juno should by extension be complaining about the ornately constructed dialogue of Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. I can’t really argue with that. It’s just that Juno doesn’t really work for me but the main characters got to me and I eventually decided I liked the movie. A tepid like, but I liked it.
I could completely understand where Scott and the other critics were coming from though. The first 20 minutes of that movie is grating. If the movie had been a 42-minute TV pilot rather than a 90-minute feature, I would have been out of there by the end of the second act. Since I paid for a ticket, I waited it out and enjoyed myself.
I think Juno has more charms than Little Miss Sunshine, but I also think it’s a more carefully constructed and overtly cynical attempt at making a crowd-pleasing mainstream comedy than LMS was too. In that respect, it kind of bugs me, but I was still entertained.
The movie, like Knocked Up, takes an overtly political situation and diffuses it by ignoring the politics. This is fine, but the movie also glosses over the effect of this pregnancy on the main character beyond her self-esteem. Juno doesn’t struggle with being pregnant, she struggles with her status in school. Is there any turmoil within the family? Do they even really acknowledge it? Do any of her friends? Not really. The movie seems very superficial in its treatment of the entire storyline. I’m not saying it has to be an afterschool special or veer into Lifetime TV territory for the third act, but it would have given the entire movie a *little* emotional weight if it felt like any of this were real. It’s the John Hughes version of teen pregnancy. Juno was 20 years too late for Molly Ringwald.
As it was, it was a cute movie with cute characters and a cute soundtrack and a cute ending taking on a not-cute situation. I enjoyed it for what it was, I just felt it was kind of superficial and that sort of bugged me. But it was a comedy and ultimately comedies tend to be pretty simple and superficial, so I don’t know. I just let it go.
As always, Craig, you’re article is awesome and your sharp wit and humorous tone had be laughing out loud.
You’ve mentioned a few times that everyone has jumped on the No Country train. It seems to me that you pride yourself on your individual tastes, never giving in to the populist choice. So I say rejoice in the fact that you haven’t jumped on the Juno bandwagon. It’s wonderful to diverge from the herd. :-)
As you know, I did enjoy the movie and found it touching. However, I did not think it was the greatest movie of the year, and I don’t get how it has been raised to Oscar-worthy status. In that way, I guess I’m missing something about that movie, too.
“This is fine, but the movie also glosses over the effect of this pregnancy on the main character beyond her self-esteem. Juno doesn’t struggle with being pregnant, she struggles with her status in school. Is there any turmoil within the family? Do they even really acknowledge it? Do any of her friends? Not really. The movie seems very superficial in its treatment of the entire storyline. I’m not saying it has to be an afterschool special or veer into Lifetime TV territory for the third act, but it would have given the entire movie a *little* emotional weight if it felt like any of this were real.”
This was my issue with the film as well Joel, the pregnancy is as superficial as the government secrets in any Hitchcock esponiage film, it’s just the McGuffin and it feels shallow, and it’s hard to root for a girl with so little introspection.
Though, as Craig said, I thought it more or less worked on its own terms, and I can even see the audiences’ overwhelming positive reaction to it, regardless of what studios think, people (and not just sophisticates) crave movies that are about some approximation of people.
Yeah, Chuck, and that’s ultimately why I ended up giving it a pass and enjoyed it. Without Ellen Page, Juno would have been really, really annoying though. She is the glue that holds the movie together, in spite of itself.
Thank you fine people for not strangling me with a cute hamburger phone. Odds are, the die has been cast and I’ll never really warm up to this movie, but I am at peace in a beJuno’d world, all I’m saying.
As for the QT/KS question, I think Juno suffers from having come afterwards. It also seems to want to have it both ways: Ironic distance and emotional truth. The critics who liked it and fans were obviously able to peel through the layers of snark to find something warm and gooey in the middle. Or they liked the snark so much, they didn’t care if there was anything in the middle or not. That’s cool. I missed the boat on this one. They can’t all be winners.
The Rex Reed review Cozzalio refers to is especially funny because Rex just sounds like a withered old man try to be relevant to the kids.
Nothing to do with Juno, although the PGA nominees were announced and Juno is one of them, but:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is also one of the PGA nominees!!!
Craig, we would never strangle you with a cute hamburger phone. Actually, to be honest, that hamburger phone annoyed the sh*t out of me.
I have a hamburger phone, and it really does suck. I got it for free, so who am I to complain. Whatever, it is really annoying, even in Juno.
http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=10415
intersting review. and yeah i love the seconf page of the review.it reall zooms in on the juno as hipster thing much more than i did.
yep more hipster than social misfit.cool apro critic agrees with me. :)
anyway juno will be if/if it isn’t already the biggest movie boxoffice wise in the histroy of fox searchlight.
ok the so little miss sundhine was directed by ex music director/and juno by a ex stripper.
oj which former profession will fox searchlight’s nest award winner/box office maven/mainstream crossover ‘indie’ comedy have on the resume ???
and joel i liked neith o.t nor kevein smith. :)
sorry to dislike/say no juno so much put it’s got to be losers up/hipsters down for once. :)
(translation i’m living in a daydream….)
sorry kids no juno/no no country/no atonement…
geek start the revolution. :)
I couldn’t take Ellen Page for more than ten minutes. Consequently, the film did nothing for me. Hugely overrated
Thanks for stopping by, Joe.
How on earth did you make it past the first 10 minutes? I at least had the benefit of liking Page…not as much in this movie as elsewhere, but nevertheless. Otherwise, I might’ve hung myself.
I saw “Juno” for the first time this week. You were right, Craig.
You’re my new hero DP. Thanks for the affirmation.
By the way…what’s the status on some new blog action from your corner of paradise?
:-) The feeling is quite mutual.
Per the blog, I’m getting ready to launch a new project pretty soon (maybe by Monday!) with my “Marion Cotillard’s Road to Oscar” contributor K. I’ll absolutely circulate a message to my favorite people once it goes up, so you should get a heads up soon.
Looking forward to it DP