Taglines: A comedy about growing up… and the bumps along the way.
Sixteen year-old Juno MacGuff is the type of girl that beats to her own drummer, and doesn’t really care what others may think of her. She learns that she’s pregnant from a one-time sexual encounter with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker. Juno and Paulie like each other, but don’t consider themselves to be exclusive boyfriend/girlfriend let alone be ready to be a family complete with child. Although she would rather not be pregnant, Juno is fairly pragmatic about her situation.
Although there, Paulie really leaves all the decisions about the baby to Juno. Initially she decides that she will have an abortion, but that’s something that she ultimately cannot go through with. So she decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption. But first she has to tell her father, Mac, and stepmother, Bren, that she is pregnant. Although they would have preferred if Juno was on hard drugs or expelled from school, Mac and Bren too are pragmatic about Juno’s situation. The next step is to find prospective parents for the yet unborn child.
In the Pennysaver ad section, Juno finds Mark and Vanessa Loring, a yuppie couple living in the suburbs. Juno likes the Lorings, and in some respects has found who looks to be a kindred spirit in Mark, with whom she shares a love of grunge music and horror films. Vanessa is a little more uptight and is the one in the relationship seemingly most eager to have a baby.
On her own choosing, Juno enters into a closed rather than open adoption contract with the Lorings – meaning she will have no contact with the baby after she gives it up. During the second and third trimesters of Juno’s pregnancy which she treats with care but detachment, Juno’s relationships with her family, with Paulie, and with the Lorings develop, the latter whose on the surface perfect life masks some hidden problems.
Juno is a 2007 American coming of age comedy-drama independent film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Ellen Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and J. K. Simmons also star. Filming spanned from early February to March 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It premiered on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, receiving a standing ovation.
Juno won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and earned three other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Page. The film’s soundtrack, featuring several songs performed by Kimya Dawson in various guises, was the first chart-topping soundtrack since Dreamgirls and 20th Century Fox’s first number one soundtrack since Titanic.
Juno earned back its initial budget of $6.5 million in twenty days, the first nineteen of which were when the film was in limited release. It went on to earn $231 million worldwide. Juno received acclaim from critics, many of whom placed the film on their top ten lists for the year. It has received criticism and praise from members of both the pro-life and pro-choice communities regarding its treatment of abortion.
In limited release and playing in only seven theaters in Los Angeles and New York City, Juno grossed $420,113 over its debut weekend, averaging $60,016 per screen. When Juno became Fox Searchlight’s first film to surpass $100 million at the box office, the company’s president Peter Rice issued the statement: “This is an astonishing feat for us and the film has surpassed all our expectations. We knew this film had crossover potential and it has resonated with audiences all across the country.”[76] The film has grossed $143,495,265 in the United States and $87,916,319 in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $231,411,584.[3] It was also the highest-grossing of the five Best Picture nominees for the 80th Academy Awards.
With a well-received preview first screened on September 1, 2007 at the Telluride Film Festival, Juno premiered on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and received a standing ovation, which prompted film critic Roger Ebert to say “I don’t know when I’ve heard a standing ovation so long, loud and warm.” It went on to feature at the Austin Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, London Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival, Stockholm International Film Festival, International Thessaloniki Film Festival, Gijón International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, earning awards and nominations at several.
Although Juno was originally intended to open in theaters on December 15, 2007, it was moved forward to take advantage of the positive reviews and buzz preceding its release, and opened in limited release on December 5, playing in only seven theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. It opened in an additional thirteen cities and around 25 theaters on December 14, expanding further on December 21 before entering wide release on December 25.
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Juno (2007)
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Allison Janney, JK Simmons, Olivia Thirlby, Rainn Wilson, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Kaaren de Zilva, Valerie Tian, Darla Fay
Screenplay by: Diablo Cody
Production Design by: Steve Saklad
Cinematography by: Eric Steelberg
Film Editing by: Dana E. Glauberman
Costume Design by: Monique Prudhomme
Set Decoration by: Shane Vieau
Art Direction by: Michael Diner, Catherine Lehman
Music by: Mateo Messina
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: December 5, 2007
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