DVD Review: Juno: Special Edition

DVD Reviews

By Jeff Swindoll Apr 15, 2008, 19:31 GMT

“I mean I'm already pregnant so what other kind of shenanigans can I get into?”

Juno was one of the big successes of last year and garnered four Academy Award nominations. It took away the one for best screenplay and made well over its 6.5 million dollar budget at the box office. Juno is a charming tale that’s full of heart. Juno (Ellen Page) is a sixteen-year-old who thanks to several gallons of Sunny D and three pregnancy tests finds out that she in indeed with child. She and her friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) got bored one day and decided to have sex. This studying caused Juno to now fail her pregnancy test.

At first, she goes to the abortion clinic but decides that she doesn’t want to take that option. After telling her Dad, Mac (J.K. Simmons), and step-mom, Brenda (Allison Janney), Juno decides with her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) to scour the Penny Saver for the perfect adoptive parents. They find Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) Loring and things are set for them to adopt Juno’s child. As we all know, sometimes life doesn’t go the way we plan it to. Diablo Cody is the success story that can only happen in Hollywood. Her only writing previous to this screenplay was a blog on stripping. One of the producers read her blog and liked the style (he also said that it didn’t hurt that it was about stripping) and asked her if she had thought about writing a screenplay and Juno was born. The film went on to make over 200 million dollars worldwide, wind up on many critics top ten lists, and secure Cody a place as the new “it” girl in Hollywood screenwriting. The film is really charming; even if you think that you might not like it you may well be taking into its spell. Some of the dialogue in the beginning is both silly, funny, and honest to blog you’ll be repeating it at the water cooler. At first some of the dialogue made me bristle, but it caught on as the movie progressed.

The real charm that makes Juno work so well lies with Ellen Page and got her a best actress nomination. She’s really fantastic as the lead and that nomination was well deserved – too bad it didn’t turn into a win. Even more so, the casting is spot on and all and all excel in their roles. Juno is a charming film and you’ll find yourself cast in its spell. I was and I wasn’t really hot on the teenage pregnancy angle, but it won me over with its great performances and humorous dialogue. Juno is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody. Next are 20 minutes of deleted scenes with an optional commentary by Reitman and Cody. There’s also a 5 minute gag reel, a 2 minute “gag take” with Reitman and Rainn Wilson yelling at each other, the 3 minute cast and crew jam “music video,” 22 minutes of screen tests, and trailers (one for the Juno soundtrack, but criminally not one for the feature). The special features above are on the single disc edition. The two disc edition adds a second disc with a downloadable copy of the film and the following featurettes. The 9 minute “Way Beyond “Our” Maturity Level” delves more into the characters of Juno, Leah, and Bleeker. The 8 minute “Diablo Cody is Totally Boss” is about the screenwriter and her rise to fame. The 8 minute “Jason Reitman for Shizz” looks at how the director came onto the project. The 13 minute “Honest to Blog!” has Reitman and Cody talking about how the film came to be made.

Juno is one of the best films of last year and probably should’ve won more Oscars than it did. It was certainly a monetary success for Fox. It will win you over with the charming performances, so go and get it homeskillet. Juno is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a June 9th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.

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