you're not like everyone else

A long long time ago a pretty girl said this to me. I'd forgotten about it, of course, but the memory all came flooding back to me a few days ago when I heard this line towards the end of this great indie movie, Juno. At that time long ago I'd taken it as a compliment - after all, she was smiling when she said it. Heck, I remember just being amazed such a beautiful girl even knew my first name.

Ellen Page, as Juno, delivers it with the same tone and expression, although in a different context. I believe at that moment though, right when I swallowed my gum, is where I nudged the film up a category from good to great. But not only for that one scene. Did I know a girl with a sharp wit like Juno back in high school? Yes, I did. Unfortunately, she was not the one that delivered the magic line. She always was the one I wanted instead of the cheerleader-type.

However, Juno just meshed and rang true all the same. I've read many a review online how Juno's dialogue, written by Diablo Cody, wasn't 'natural,' or that she was incapable of emotion. Hell, this wasn't an After School Special. I think by the final fade out she realizes that solving any future crisis in her life will take a great deal more than her own cleverness.

In those final scenes that took me back to my youth, I was thinking, "just give Ellen the damn Oscar!" And, I wonder if Ellen was just playing herself in the role, having little knowledge about the actress of the woman. (I hear her next role is a one-woman show on Broadway, Ellen Page As Morgan Freggin'-Freeman!).When she appeared on Letterman awhile ago it seemed she was Juno, and I was impressed how she kept right in step with David with her top-notch wit. I thought, "Just give Ellen her own talk show!"

Ms. Page, you're not like everyone else.