''Juno'' at the Smith Opera House
Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, and winner for Best Original Screenplay, "Juno" is a coming-of-age movie made with idiosyncratic charm. The movie is hilarious and sweet-tempered, perceptive and surprisingly grounded.
"Juno" defies expectations at every turn, giving the slip to anything saccharine or trite or didactic, looking to its characters for insight and complexity, reveling in dialogue that is artificial yet witty and articulate and, most crucially, taking a presumably stale storyline and making it into a buoyant comedy. The film, the second directed by Jason Reitman and first written by professional stripper- turned-writer Diablo Cody, detonates wisecracks every step of the way, yet never completely disguises the fact that this is a comedy from a couple of moralists determined to portray the great human values in love and friendship.
In "Juno," 20-year-old Canadian actress Ellen Page plays a sharp- tongued teen whose single sexual encounter results in pregnancy. Juno is reflexively sarcastic, but Page’s uncannily expressive performance reveals the uncertainty behind the girl’s pose. The film is shrewd about the gap between what people think they want and what they actually need, and as the lesson plays out, Page’s work transforms and deepens along with Juno’s understanding.
Michael Cera ("Superbad") plays the child’s father, nerdy track star Paulie Bleeker, with his trademark "who, me" look of male adolescent sexual embarrassment, but gives it more feeling than ever before.
The engaging story, coupled with the character’s likable quirkiness, makes for a film bristling with vitality and heart, without resorting to glibness or sentimentality. With its original performances that can’t be reduced to simplistic labels, "Juno" is charming, honest and terrifically acted. It is rated PG-13 and has a running time of 96 minutes.
Images
Date and Time
Friday May 9, 2008 Sunday May 11, 2008
May 9th & 10th at 7pm
Sunday, May 11th at 2pm
Location
Smith Opera House82 Seneca StGeneva, NY
Fees/Admission
$5 general admission$3 students & senior citizens
Website
Contact Information
315-781-LIVE (5483) or toll-free 866-355-LIVE (5483)
Printed courtesy of flxchamber.com/ – Contact the Finger Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce for more information.
One Franklin Square, Suite 202, Geneva, NY 14456 – (315) 789-1776 – info@flxchamber.com