YMMV / Juno

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Several, particularly regarding Vanessa, Mark, and Juno herself.
  • With Mark, is he a deadbeat who doesn't want to face responsibility, or is he someone who is tired of being in a relationship where he's forced to conform to everything his wife wants?
  • Vanessa seems to be a motherly type. She has taken the role in her relationship with Mark as an overbearing parent who decides what's best for her child. One wonders if it will translate to her being an actual mother.
  • Also, could it be that Vanessa acts so uptight around Juno because she does not want to keep her hopes up? After all, the last time she tried to adopt, the mother changed her mind.
  • Is Juno truly happy with giving her son up to Vanessa? Is Vanessa up to the task of raising him?
• Angst? What Angst?: Becoming pregnant at such a young age doesn't seem to faze Juno all that much, but then, she is an overly-flippant teen. Averted later following the delivery, where — whether it boils down to grief, exhaustion, crashing hormones, or some combination of all three — she seems actually relatively upset.
• Award Snub: Despite how acclaimed Marion Cotillard's performance in La Vie en Rose is, there was genuine upset over Elliot Page (then-Ellen Page) not winning the Actress Academy Award instead.
• Awesome Music: The soundtrack. Barry Louis Polisar's "All I Want Is You" and The Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else But You" are now inseparable from the movie. Sonic Youth's version of "Superstar" is also memorable.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Vanessa is either The Woobie who wants to be a mother or a Machiavellian, self-centered Jerkass who isn't as altruistic as she presents herself. There's seemingly no gray area; people who see the film are either with her or against her.
  • Mark is also either The Woobie, or a tremendously selfish Jerkass.
• Epileptic Trees: Since Elliot Page's transition, many fans have imagined Juno growing up to become transgender as well.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The film ends with Vanessa choosing to go ahead with adopting Juno's baby in spite of her split with Mark. This is treated as an unambiguously happy ending, since it means that Juno's son will get to have a loving mother after all—but it also means that Vanessa will have to raise a child alone as a single mother while reeling from a very painful divorce, leaving many viewers with serious doubts about whether she's actually up to the task. You can't help but wonder what kind of childhood Juno's son will end up having.
• Genius Bonus: While the movie mentions that Juno's named after the Roman goddess Juno, it doesn't mention that one of the main domains of the goddess is childbirth.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • With the economic recession of 2008 occurring just a year after the film's release, the future of Juno's son in Vanessa's hands can be seen as particularly bleak.
  • Hearing Juno reply, "I'm not sure what kind of girl I am," becomes this now that the actor has come out as a transgender man.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • After Elliot Page came out (as a lesbian - he wouldn't come out as transgender for several more years), it's ironic that Juno suggests giving the baby to "a couple of nice lesbos" and comments that she thinks the name Madison is "kinda gay". Page has also suggested that his character would eventually have come out too given enough time. His coming out as trans and non-binary also adds an extra edge to Juno saying "That's what you think" when told male or female are the only options for her baby.
  • J. K. Simmons and Allison Janney playing Juno's Open Minded Parents (well, open-minded stepmother in Janney's case) is hilarious now that they both have won Oscars in Supporting Roles for playing horribly abusive, foul-mouthed mentors: Simmons as Terrence Fletcher in Whiplash and Janney as Lavona Harding in I, Tonya.
• Misaimed Fandom: There are those that use the film as a tool to promote pro-life or pro-choice arguments with regards to abortion, when Word of God indicates that the film was meant to be neutral on the subject.
• No Yay: Mark and Juno. More than one viewer might have thought this movie was about to take a turn into much creepier adulterous May–December Romance territory with the way Mark kept being so friendly to Juno and the way she kept spending time alone with him, but no, that's not what happens.
• Once Original, Now Common: The film came out at the perfect time, managing to fully capitalise on such "groundbreaking" elements as: a non-patronising take on teen pregnancy, quirky dialogues and characters, hipsters just popping up in public perception (thus seen as funny weirdos rather than their later status as obnoxious try-hards), the writer being a non-professional, with somewhat controversial past. Sounds like a long list of tiresome clichés from every single indie movie made around the same period? This one was the first, and all of those things were shockingly fresh. Even Michael Cera playing firmly within his infamous Typecasting wasn't a typecast yet.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Emily Perkins as the irreverent punk receptionist at the abortion clinic.
  • Rainn Wilson as the convenience store cashier.
• Retroactive Recognition: Caroline Forbes as classmate Amanda.
• Squick: "All I see is pork swords."
  • Mark showing Juno an old comic about a pregnant ninja/samurai, mentioning that he'd gotten it while on tour with his band many years before. While Juno takes this as a comforting thing, it becomes this if you read between the lines and realise Mark might be admitting to being a pregnancy fetishist, and is using this to flirt with her.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • We're supposed to sympathize with Juno, who becomes pregnant at an early age. However, she seems oblivious to the consequences, doesn't think it's such a big deal, and it all works out for her in the end... kind of.
  • Vanessa could count, depending on your point of view. Though the movie presents her in a positive light, many audience members found her character traits and behavior off-putting.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?:
  • In the same vein as Misaimed Fandom above, there are pro-life activists who use the film as a tool against abortion, although Diablo Cody and Elliot Page are both pro-choice. Cody has expressed regret over this; she says that Juno choosing not to have an abortion was a personal decision, not a commentary that abortion was automatically wrong in every situation.
  • Likewise, critics have interpreted the film as being covertly right-wing; the actions of most of the characters (barring Mark) never fall outside of the framework of conservative American values, such as the importance of personal responsibility, hard work, and family. It's important to note that Cody is a die hard liberal and has bashed conservatives on numerous occasions so this was likely unintentional.
• The Woobie: Depending on whom you ask, Vanessa and/or Mark.
  • Vanessa only wants to become a mother to a child, but both troubles from conceiving/adopting and her husband Mark keep her from that goal. Even if she has questionable ideals and standards, one can not help but feel bad for the fact that it took her so long to complete what some people would consider such a simple goal.
  • Mark, on the other hand, has to deal with a highly sophisticated wife while he is a man who has interests similar to a teen's, wants to be a rockstar, and shows little to no desire for children. For that reason, some people understand Mark's decision to leave Vanessa as well as his anger when Vanessa complained about his mindset.

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