At first, my wife and I both fell for Juno, the well-received recent movie about a charming off-beat teen's pregnancy. Preparing for a new life while the life in progress bears up under stress is a theme that always plays my strings. The Lauren Hill song "Zion," a single mother's ballad for a new son, made my eyes tear when it came up on my iPod on the walk to the train station this morning.
A couple days after our movie date, though, I'm sorry to say that my most memorable mental images from Juno are the bald product placements for Sunny Delight, the unmeritorious sweetened orange drink, and Tic Tacs. The Sunny Delight bottle shows up in a freeze frame hand-drawn image in the opening sequence, which is probably the most craven product placement I've ever seen. The Tic Tacs are ubiquitous.
And that in turn puts me in the spirit to link to a damning review of the movie. I'm not a frequent movie goer. But Ken Krimstein, who puts more time into culture watching, judges that Juno is derivative and mercenary from top to bottom.
The Sunny D product placement was as subtle as Juno's nine-months-along belly, but the Tic-Tacs at least worked with the story.
ReplyDeleteHer beverage choice struck me as a comedic device, and I did not feel urged to emulate it. No lingering thirst for Sunny D.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Juno... but I guess the indie-elite will descend on this movie now that it's gotten the Oscar nod.
So Juno is a formulaic romantic comedy. Who cares? At least it's an off-beat formula that is well-executed with a snappy script and charming actors.