Juno

92

The best movie I saw from 2007 was in 2008*. Seeing Juno on New Year's Day with big crowds was great as I could see just how many people appreciated it's witty off-beat humor.

Minnesotan stripper, turned blogger, turned book and screenwriter, turned Hollywood gal Diablo Cody's writing and voice is very prominent throughout Juno and especially in Ellen Page's character of the selfsame name. In an article appearing in the Dec/Jan issue of Paste Magazine, Cody attributes some of her success as a first-time screenplay writer to naïveté:

"Because of my background writing other forms, I was so used to the words on the page being all I had to work with, so I tried to make it as flashy and appealing and pyrotechnic as I could, not realizing that the camera was going to come in and add so much more."

She is obviously being a bit modest, but I think there is truth there. Unlike many aspiring screen-writers, Cody claims to have "never been super well-versed in the world of cinema". I think that is a good thing because her characters don't easily slide into the typical film archetypes that have been established and sold to moviegoers for years.

Juno is funny, sad, and sweet all at the same time. It touches many more topics than teen pregnancy and young love. There are class issues, family issues, and explorations of love and happiness that go beyond the typical "teen movie".

* Disclosure: I have yet to see No Country for Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Gone Baby Gone, Ratatouille, or a handful of others. Also I don't consider There will be Blood to be a 2007 movie.