Juno MacGuff becomes pregnant and must deal with situations way beyond her maturity level. Using an unusual method, she finds a couple willing to adopt the child. Now she must use her wit and vast pop culture knowledge to survive her new status of teenage outcast. I found this film to be highly enjoyable. It was written by Diablo Cody and was directed by Jason Reitman. It stars Ellen Paige, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, and J.K. Simmons.Juno is Jason Reitman's seventh film. He was born in Quebec and graduated from the University of Southern California's Cinema-Television school.
The film was a massive hit on the festival circuit. It played at Alpe d'Huez International Comedy Film Festival, Gijon International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Rome Film Fest, St. Louis International Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival. The film was bought by Fox Searchlight Pictures and received a wide release where it grossed over $143 million. Fox Searchlight stuck around to distribute the DVDs.
Reviews of Juno:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/juno/
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/movies/05juno.html
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/juno
Juno was beloved by audiences and critics alike.
Official Website for Juno:
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/
I was unable to find any press releases for the film. There were a few sites that looked as if they had them, but you had to be a paying member to actually search through their archives of press releases.
As I said earlier, the film grossed $143 million (US) and $230 million worldwide. Audiences loved it. Any site that has a system on which users can rate films has given Juno no lower than an 8/10. It has sold almost $58 million worth of DVDs in the United States.
Due to Juno's amazing reception by critics, it's posters were covered in laurels. Jason Reitman, having just made Thank You For Smoking, also used his name to sell the film. The poster is straightforward. It has a picture of Juno, sporting a massive, pregnant belly. The website and trailer sport the motif of crappy drawings. It goes well with the indie music used in the film.
The film's story sold itself. Though teen pregnancy is highly controversial, the film handled the story in a way that was charming and endearing. Juno considers abortion, but decides to keep the baby after one of her classmates, a pro-life protester, stops her on her way into the clinic to tell her that her baby has fingernails.
The people in charge of marketing clearly knew what they were doing with Juno, and it worked phenomenally. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have the film directed by a critically acclaimed director who is the son of the guy who made Ghostbusters and Animal House.
Juno Trailer:
