Juno and The Coffee Shop

Juno

Written by Diablo Cody
Directed by Ivan Reitman

Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman

So no one talks like her, few act like her, or share her ridiculous name, but Juno MacGuff is remarkably honest and three-dimensional.

But this movie isn't really her story. She starts as a sarcastic punk doing her thing in the small town midwest (mainly digesting convenient store junk food, listening to pre-hipster music, watching teenage boy carnage movies) and is pretty much the same at the end, plus child. There doesn't seem to be an arch in the plot and that's okay. It's a lot of fun to watch her. Ellen Page is a wonderful actress with boundless energy. Even when placed in challenging situations, she shines, jokes, charms.

Putting real world logic aside (would she really have gone through with it? would her parents have been that understanding? would her relationship with Michael Cera's character have ended so harmoniously--singing the 90s equivalent of Cher/Sonny's "I've got you babe" on porch steps?), I loved Juno. For the cameo-like performances from Alyson Janney and Dwight Shrute (Rainn Wilson), fresh faces, quick wit, and solid soundtrack. Could this be Garden State with a sense of humor? The movie Knocked Up aspired to but couldn't achieve with such a lackluster heroine?

I hope the precarious atmosphere caused by the writers' strike does not keep this movie from the writing/acting Oscars it deserves. Truly a sacred cinematic vessel.

Try it with Coffee Shop in Union Square. Unexpected, casual, quirky. I am sure you could order a blue slushie.