Juno

I just went to see Juno last weekend. It was hilarious. Definitely worth seeing. Very smart.

Nothing really important about this blog entry. I was gonna do a whole review thing, but I think the movie is worth seeing on it's own merits. You don't need my convoluted ramblings and misinterpretations to spoil it for you.

But one thing I do want to note is regarding the reviews of the movie I have read on user review sites, such as Meta Critic and Rotten Tomatoes. Most people loved it. But there were a significant number of negative reviews. Upon further inspection, I found the negative reviews to be mostly related to the morality and politics of the movie. Generally, the people who didn't like it, didn't like because "...Script paces like a long commercial ad for justifying guiltless, irresponsible and promiscuous sexual ploys. Shamefully, Diablo Cody and Ellen Page will go down in the filmmaking history as model promoters of teen sex and teen unwed mothers." Huh? I liked the movie because it didn't go into justifying the morality of the whole thing. In fact, there is an interesting scene examining the absurdity of the Pro-Life v. Pro-Choice movements. The film is very much set up as 'Juno got pregnant, how does everyone respond to it'. Did they want the movie to be a rant against teenage promiscuity? I for one think that would be much less funny.

My point is, can art no longer be interpreted without moral and political undertones? Can a film not just be a film?