#2 Juno

I loved this movie, my wife Mari LOVED this movie. Which is rare and should probably be taken as a better indicator than my own endorsement.

If you're not into the subversive cute genre (Garden State, Gilmore Girls, Wes Anderson Flicks) you very well might not dig on this one so much. Especially the first few 10 minutes or so. I have to admit I was a little scared during the first couple scenes. When Juno tells a dog to "Shut your gob" I suddenly envisioned Juno as a knocked up, sassy Napoleon Dynamite. It almost seems as if the filmmakers front loaded the quirk to sort of mess with your precocious barometer. After the first 10 or 15 minutes the language and mannerisms just become natural and you are allowed to love all the characters. And you do, every one of them is presented in a sympathetic light (except maybe Bleeker's pseudo girlfriend with the stink eye), yes all of them, that includes both the yuppie adopters as well.

Not that this makes or breaks the film, but the soundtrack has been in regular rotation at the Ickes house since the day we saw the movie.


Score:
9 impregnated minors out of 10