The moment in Juno when I realized that Jason Bateman was the jerk of the film did not hit me until the second time I saw the movie.

I mean, at the end of the movie I was sobbing like a baby and still wrapping my mind around the fact that Jennifer Garner was actually a nice sweet mama wanna be and not the cold, OCD controlling party poop I thought she was. That movie pulled a switcheroo of Sixth Sense proportions on me.

Now I admit, I am one of the more gullible movie watchers I know. Oh I might be super savvy down the road, after I have seen a film a dozen times and know all the actors, best lines and the history behind the film – but while I am watching? I am like a five-year old, totally buying into everything the film is laying out for me for better or for worse. In fact I was so amazed by Sixth Sense that I quickly forced my brother to watch it, convinced he would be as blown away as I was.

I was disappointed, cause my brother is a cynical bastard and he had the whole thing figured out as soon he noticed Bruce Willis’ watch wasn’t working – therefore he must be dead. He sucks.

Now I am in no way comparing the Sixth Sense to Juno. M. Knight’s best and might I venture to admit, only really great movie, holds a special place for all of us I am sure. It is the stand alone reason as to why we are all so profoundly stunned that with the possible exceptions of Signs and Unbreakable the man cannot seem to even remotely come back and make anywhere’s near as great of a movie.

Anyway back to Jason Bateman the asshole of Juno. I love this guy as an actor. He is nerdy and cool at the same time and I kind of have a crush on him.

Except for that moment in Juno. There are so many things I love about this movie. It’s definitely one that I will watch every time it is on TV. I will quote it all the time and if I were much, much younger I would totally wanna be just like Ellen Page when I grew up.

But one of my favorite things about the movie is the way it twisted those two characters. I HATED Jennifer Garner! She was totally drowning all the fun out of every moment she was on screen! And Bateman was cool, and laid back and nice and he ends up being the jerk!

So second time through….here’s the moment:

When Ellen Page shows him the pic of the ultra sound. He has this moment where he looks sort of scared. Ya know, he just stares at that ultra sound and freezes. Now I initially thought he was just that – scared. New dad, crazy OCD wife…who wouldn’t be scared right?

Juno attempts to lighten the conversation with a joke or two about junk which is cute and then she continues to try to tell him about her sonogram appointment.

But Jason interrupts their conversation when he hears a song that he likes playing in the background. He forgets all about the baby and very aggressively changes the subject. Juno innocently goes along because she thinks he is just as cool as I do, but the truth is, this is where Jason’s characters starts to reveal his true colors. Suddenly he won’t pick out the paint color for his kid’s bedroom wall – the coldness of THAT scene I also do not notice until the second time through.

And this is why I can’t be a movie reviewer folks. I am gullible. I can’t see the subtleties of anything the first time through. This is why I have a blog – so I can take my sweet time to understand and appreciate a film and then analyze and throw about my useless opinions years after the fact 🙂