Check Out the Trailer

Here is a fun and enjoyable holiday present for movie fans. Directed by Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) and Hollywood screenwriter de jour Diablo Cody, this film delivers a miracle — a comedy with equal doses of edge and heart. Unlike so many wannabe hip indie comedies, this pop culture infused production creates characters that we can believe in — they don’t just feel like slick constructions of a screenwriter. It’s the multilayered characters — brought to life by a special cast — that makes this one of the premiere films of 2007.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page, HARD CANDY) discovers a one-night hook up with her longtime friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera, SUPERBAD) has resulted in a pregnancy. After an unsettling trip to the clinic, she decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption. Her father Mac (J.K. Simmons, SPIDER-MAN) and stepmother Bren (Allison Janney, THE HOURS) are supportive, but would have rather had an expulsion from school than this news. Juno finds a nice looking yuppie couple named Vanessa and Mark Loring (Jennifer Garner, TV’s ALIAS, & Jason Bateman, TV’s ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) in the Pick-N-Save advertising for a baby. Over the course of the pregnancy, Juno will have to deal with many issues that are “way above her maturity level.”

After a breakout performance in HARD CANDY last year, Ellen Page rockets herself to the upper echelon of young actresses. It will be criminal if she does not receive an Oscar nomination for a performance that is effortlessly charming, funny and real. Cody’s dialogue is not easy at times and Page delivers it as if she was coming up with it on the spot. She owns this character.

She is supported at every turn by one of the great ensemble casts of the year. Cera is quite droll as the clueless teen who has no idea what to do when Juno tells him that she is pregnant. Simmons and Janney are the coolest parents a knocked up teen could hope for, especially Janney’s Bren who may be the best stepmother character in film history. Janney’s scene during the ultrasound is classic. Garner and Bateman have never been better. In roles that are surprising in their nuance, they are the major surprise, because they are so real and aren’t forced to live with the same ironic voice the MacGuffs possess. All the characters are allowed to be individuals.

Reitman handles the unique tone perfectly. He allows the jokes to form naturally, never over punctuating anything. Therefore, the film will have added pleasure on repeated viewings when viewers get jokes they may have missed on the first viewing. As for Cody, she is the real deal. The stripper-turned-blogger-turned-author-turned-screenwriter is the hottest thing in Hollywood at the moment and from this effort it is well deserved. She has an original voice that’s infused with post-modern pop culture savvy, but also understands character and story. Another crime come Oscar time would be a lack of nomination for her as well.

Actually, the Academy should be shamed if this film doesn’t get nominated for best picture, because it is easily one of the five best. Few crowd pleasers come along that aren’t saccharine or derivative. There are many films one could compare JUNO to, but it would just undermine its true freshness. I love this film and you will too.