Just a few days into this movie-meal experiment, a pattern already seems to be emerging. Food and movies, it turns out, do have quite a bit in common. The main thing is that they are a mixture of different ingredients, different textures, flavors, colors, tastes. The trick is to combine all the familiarity in a way that seems totally new.
In that way, Juno is a refreshing take on the oldest story in the world. A young girl gets pregnant before she's ready. We've seen it before - but never like this. It's as refreshing as the kind of omelette you'd get at a really nice restaurant, made to order by a guy in a top hat at the buffet. That chef in the case of Juno would be Jason Reitman, 30 year old wunderkid who also helmed the excellent Thank You For Smoking. But Juno is more touching, more affectionate, more in love with it's own characters and world. This movie too is a mixture, unlike the others we've reviewed here, there is a mixture less good and bad - not one scene in this film lacks a delicious mix of comedy and heart. It's mostly a mix of different actors, each one nestled in the fluffy egg batter of the plot. The warm and juicy ham of JK Simmons as Juno's father and the alternating spice and sweet cheddar cheese of Allison Janney as Juno's step mom, both of whom deliver standout scenes that are very powerful in very different ways. The jittery earnestness of Michael Cera as the father-to-be, the adopting parents Jason Bateman and Jennifer Gardner; they're all mixed in, each complementing one another even if they share virtually no scenes together. And they are all held in place by only the flimsiest of plotlines, and the wonderfully talented new young actress Ellen Page, the ironclad frying pan upon which the whole thing is put together. It's an incredible movie, surely one of the best of the year, a film to savor every perfect moment of.
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