STUDIO: Fox
RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2008
STARRING: Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, and Michael Cera
WRITTEN BY: Diablo Cody
DIRECTED BY: Jason Reitman
FEATURES: Audio Commentary by Director Jason Reitman and Screenwriter Diablo Cody
Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody
Gag Reel & Gag Take
Cast & Crew Jam
Screen Tests
Way Beyond "Our" Maturity Level: Juno - Leah - Bleeker Featurette
Diablo Cody Is Totally Boss Featurette
Jason Reitman for Shizz Featurette
Honest to Blog! Crediting Juno Featurette

SO much has been written, said, blogged, and argued about Juno that it seems almost a waste of time to add to the discussion. From the minute this excellent little film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival, the buzz has been deafening. So much praise was heaped on Jason Reitman's comedy that it even spawned the inevitable backlash. Every film as widely beloved as Juno ends up creating its own negative bandwagon. It's truly dispiriting for a critic to watch a film as good as Juno become the brunt of narrow-minded backlashes but it happens every year to the "comedy that could." Just ask Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) or Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation). So, perhaps the last thing that should be said about Juno is this - just see it for yourself. Don't believe the critics who put it on their ten bests. Don't believe the 93% on Rotten Tomatoes or the word-of-mouth that made the most financially successful film in Fox Searchlight history. Don't even believe the Academy, who named it the best original screenplay of 2007. (We all know they're wrong more often than they're right.) And, at the same time, don't believe the talkback flamers and bloggers who thrive on knocking down films that get placed on a pedestal. Watch Juno for yourself.

And, if you've weathered the backlash and still love the little movie that could from 2007, you'll probably be satisfied with the Fox DVD release this week, even if it feels a little "off." Very few people like Juno as much as we do here at The Deadbolt. For proof, check out the theatrical review, our praise for Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner in the Best Performances of 2007, and its placement in the Best Films of 2007, but the love-fest on the DVD is overwhelming. There are, literally, a series of featurettes where people from the production of Juno talk about the greatness of another person from the production of Juno. There's eight minutes of "Diablo Cody is Totally Boss," eight minutes of "Jason Reitman for Shizz," and eight minutes on the trio of stellar young actors called "Way Beyond "Our" Maturity Level." Even if you love Juno, watching Reitman, Olivia Thirlby, Cody, and others go on and on about how incredible the acting, writing, and directing are in the film can lead to a little morning sickness. I firmly believed that Jason Reitman deserved even MORE praise for his understated direction of Juno, but even my stomach turns when I hear him say that he thought the screenplay was the best thing he's ever read on page two. We get it. You like each other. Move on.

When you get past the gushing, there are some great elements of the special features on Juno. First and foremost, Reitman and Coy are never stuffy or dry, the typical drawbacks of audio commentary participants. In fact, their track is one of the most trivia-laden we've heard in a long time with a number of great details about the movie that even multiple viewers won't have caught like the fact that someone had to pose for the Women Now newspaper ad and that the chemistry teacher in Juno's school was the awesome DJ, Cut Chemist. Yes, that rules. The real draw of the special features will be the 20 minutes of deleted scenes. Unlike a lot of useless material that's scraped off the cutting room floor and put on DVD, a lot of Juno's excised material is pretty great and arguably should have been kept in. Reitman really should have found a home for Bleeker's track photo shoot. Trust me. The special features are nicely rounded out by gag footage, a cast & crew jam, and screen tests that prove that Ellen Page had this character down from day one.