We saw Juno last night and I had mixed feelings about it. At first I was thinking I love this movie! Then the girl's personality started to annoy me--it seemed so forced and just too much. Yes, she was cute and unique and cool...but after a while it just felt like the whole movie was screaming "LOOK HOW EDGY THIS MOVIE AND THESE CHARACTERS ARE! LOOK HOW HIP AND QUIRKY AND WITTY AND SARCASTIC AND SMART AND SUBVERSIVE THIS GIRL IS! LISTEN TO HOW COOL THIS MUSIC IS! CHECK OUT THIS RAD CINEMATOGRAPHY AND THESE CARTOON-ISH EFFECTS!" It just got to be system overload for me after a while. Ok, ok already--I get it--the film is offbeat and artsy.

The feel of the whole thing became very Napolean Dynamite on speed after a point-- that point probably being when the Napolean Dynamite clone made his appearance in Science class.

Then there was the spooky aspect of the Mallory's brother/horse-faced Jennifer Garner couple. WTF was up with Jennifer Garner's character? Fist of all, she looked nothing like she used to--how did she go from kicking ass in Alias to looking like a Talbot's-clad spinster in a few years? Ok, yes, maybe it was just her character but it freaked me out and distracted me.

As much as I disliked her character, the husband creeped me out the most. How did that "young at heart" (said with a smirk) guy end up in a McMansion in the burbs with dry old Jennifer Garner in the first place? Had he started off as a yuppie but, upon meeting Juno, suddenly morphed back to his rock n' roll former self?

That big brother/pedophile dynamic was very disturbing to me. The first time Juno showed up at their house unannounced and started hanging around with him, swapping guitar stories and cd mixes, it made me uncomfortable. Then when she showed up the second time and they started slow dancing it became downright stomach-turning.

At any rate, I have to say that by the end of the movie I liked it a lot less than I did when it started.