Juno

If you've got a bit of spare cash and you're of the gambling persuasion - which I am not, I hate gambling, it makes me feel stupid - you could do worse than putting a few quid on Juno to win Best Picture at the Oscars. I don't actually think it is the best picture, but There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men are such similar films that they will split the Important Violent Symbolic American Movie vote, and surely Michael Clayton doesn't stand a chance, so the only real opposition to Juno is Atonement. And Juno has the advantage of being gentle and sweet and charming, [and American, of course.] - [Canadian, apparently. Oops. But we know I heart Canada.] - According to my correspondent, American / Canadian / Hungarian. I am exhausted.

Juno is a truly lovely film, the kind of film you come out of with your heart a few degrees warmer. Of course, they had cooled my heart by a few degrees before the movie by showing, first of all, a series of adverts about how to avoid venereal disease (movie about teen pregnancy + 4pm screening = Government health warning opportunity) and then some of the worst trailers I have ever seen in my life. The absolute rock bottom of these was the ad for 27 Dresses which falls into my least favourite "Romantic" "Comedy" (quotation marks for both words as they both fall into question) sub-genre: problematic woman must be cured by a man before she achieves social acceptance in the symbolic form of love. You can spot these films a mile off because they all start with the same premise: Girl is good at X but bad at love. Invariably, it's being too focused on X that is the problem. Bad woman, bad. Focus on Man instead. Much better.

Which is what made Juno so refreshing. Juno, the character, did not need to be cured. She did not need to be saved. She did need to open her eyes a bit and realise that Michael Cera was the perfect boy for her (of which more later), but she did not need to be brought down to do so. Also, she did not have to experience pregnancy as a transformative experience that turned her into a better person. She was a pretty good person to begin with. She was a great person to spend the movie with, and if the film was one of these indie comedies that is mostly about relationships (romantic / friend / family) and not much else, at least it was about the right length and about the right tone and really quite a beautiful way to spend a couple of hours.

And of course it had Michael Cera in it. My love for Michael Cera is pre-documented, and he did nothing to diminish himself in my eyes here at all. Mainly because he was playing exactly the same character in this movie as in Superbad, with added orange tictacs, and therefore my love affair with him (where were the adorable boys like you when I was sixteen?) can continue unblemished. Having said that, seeing as he plays the exact same character in Arrested Development as well, I think it is probably about time Michael Sera broke the mould. Next Michael Sera role to be creepy teenage serial killer please. He would be very good.

Finally, a word about abortion. There is a tedious habit for every film in which an unexpected pregnancy does not lead immediately to an abortion to be labelled reactionary, anti-abortion, and pro-life. I have read such a thing about Juno. No. No, no, no. First of all, the idea that you can't make a film about unwanted pregnancies because all fictional unwanted pregnancies should end in abortion and if they don't that is an evil STATEMENT is moronic. It's fiction. You should be able to explore all options in fiction. Secondly, there is a difference between being pro-choice and being pro-abortion. Pro-choice means that the option of abortion should be available, not that all women should take it. Ergo, being pro-choice means being pro whatever choice the woman makes, or the man and woman make, which includes not having an abortion. Are we clear? So I will not tolerate any Juno-is-anti-abortion guff, not on this blog. Aaaaaaaaall righty?

I'm all wound up now. Quick, must look at a picture of Michael Cera.

I am soothed.

He's only ten years too young for me. Men do it all the time, right? Right?