Last night My wife and I watched Juno for the first time. Only one person actually told me to not watch, a number of believers actually told me how great it was.
Wow, was I disappointed. It was terrible. Not because the acting was bad, the acting was fine I suppose. It was just terrible...the following are my observations are my reasons for thinking so.
1. It used big issue (s) to entertain us with quirkiness.
2. It was ridiculously crass and gross. And should be a reason in and of itself for saying "no" to it and rejecting it outright. The crass and gross humor was not peripheral but central.
3. I am sure the desire for reality was at the forefront of the reason for all the crass and gross dialogue. But if reality is the goal then why create a character like Juno who talks like a sitcom character full of obscure pop-culture references in every line? Not only does no person converse like that but certainly no teenager.
4. We live in a world of small thoughts and small dreams and small visions and small affections. Juno is the textbook example of that. It sprinkles in enough seriousness to justify a world of silliness and triviality and quirkiness.
5. Light-hearted, random quirkiness is the order of the day. Its prevalence and acceptance by believers everywhere of every age is out of proportion to blood-earnest seriousness of the mission of God's people to display his greatness and glory.
6. Funny is a terrible and God-dishonoring single litmus test for whether a movie is good. Should there not be something more? It is so small.
7. I felt like I needed a bath.
8. I should have listened to Murry Adams.
