Thundercats are GO!

I saw Juno on Sunday. I’ll see it again. The music and the opening credits were stellar.

A pregnant lady came with some of her girlfriends but because the theater was so crowded they had to split up. She was standing in front of the empty seat next to me shouting at random people to ask if anybody was sitting in the empty chairs next to them. I closed my eyes and tried to push back the onset of a headache induced from her yelling.

The movie had heady themes which all good movies have. When you get into heady theme territory, gray areas are explored and there aren’t clear right-wing answers. My boss always talks about incorporating some type of “Lessons Learned” sections in my articles. Here are some quick ones I would use if I were writing a review of Juno for my boss.

Lessons Learned

• Sometimes the biggest choices we make in life aren't things we can articulate, justify or rationalize to other people.

• Sometimes people express love through annoyance.

• Pregnancy is an intensely personal thing for a woman. Don’t make judgments or pronouncements.

• Be Open-hearted.

Michael Cera is hilarious. His awkward adolescence reminds me of my cousin. There was a line in Juno where Juno, pregnant and cranky, is laying into Cera’s character in the school hallway. She lashes out that she never asked him to marry her or anything, he looks at her, shocked and stung, and says, "You'd be the meanest wife, ever." It would take a few sentences to describe just how Cera delivered this line to convey the emotional complexity of the scene. Both Juno and Michael’s reactions were really honest and loaded with pain.



On NPR, the director, Jason Reitman, talked about the advice his dad gave him. One anecdote entailed the director’s decision to become a doctor and how his dad told him, “there wasn’t enough magic in it.” And the second piece of advice involved trusting the script and as a director, once shooting starts, just making sure every scene is emotionally honest. Good advice. I think that’s how I try to edit. Making sure every word and action is honest.

Watching the Cera above made me think of the shouting match I had Saturday afternoon. At one point, she asked me, “What the fuck is your problem?” There’s more background information leading up to the question she posed. She asked me that question after I called her “pretty lame” and told her that all I hear are excuses coming out of her mouth. She knew exactly what my problem was because she began the conversation by apologizing. Across the board, in all my interactions, I think I’ve had enough with bs.

The quote reminded me of her because I had told her something similar a while ago. But unlike, the veiled hurt in the scene, I truly couldn’t envision myself with her. I told her that I could never date anyone like her. I said and felt it in the most matter of fact way. And she still has not let it go.