In the fallout of Little Miss Sunshine came Juno, and out of that spawned a whole slew of cute, mostly over written indie comedy-dramas. This looked good, but I mostly expected it to disappoint, and to my surprise it didn't.
A couple both in their mid thirties (Burt and Verona) find out that they are having a baby. They are of course excited up until his parents who are their closest living relatives tell them they are moving to Belgium for two years. So they start traveling around the country looking for a place to live since they have to reason any more to stay near his parents. As they travel they meet a lot of different friends and family who have much different takes on child rearing and the family dynamic than their own.
It is quirky and funny, but also at times incredibly sad. In particular a scene where they are in a bar/strip joint and one of their female friends is dancing and her husband tells them that she just had another miscarriage, as he continues to talk it just breaks your heart. There are also the wacko and funny parents in it who you see in the trailer, and they certainly kept other parts of it moving and funny.
There were a few scenes, and I don't think I'm that picky about dialogue and sexual references, but there were a few times it seemed they talked a certain way, or did something simply because it was more indie. That makes me a little uncomfortable, but a very minor objection. The way its shot wasn't anything grand, the camera is really just capturing the action, and there isn't much character growth as the story goes on, its more viewing the world through these peoples eyes, if just for a while.
At times it was very funny, and other times fittingly sad. Like Juno its about being pregnant, but this is more about family, than the need to grow up. There are tons of cameos by bigger stars, and they are all great. Knowing that they had a short amount of time on screen you could tell they were trying to get the most out of it, which was good. It was one of the better Juno wannabes that came along, and when viewed independently of that works very well. 8/10 stars.
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph
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