Juno A+
Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman
Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking)
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, and language
Appropriate for ages 13+
The Story: Young Juno (Page) is bored one night and decides to have sex with her friend Bleeker (Cera), only to find that this one lapse in judgment would end up with a baby in nine months. When a trip to the abortion clinic scares her away, she finds a young couple incapable of having their own child, and offers hers up for adoption.
The Good: While the story is fairly simple, it’s the screenplay that makes this movie sing. Written by newbie Diablo Cody, this is simply one of the wittiest, smartest, and funniest films to come along this year. Another find here is young Ellen Page. While she showed signs of her brilliance in the very frightening 2005 movie Hard Candy, Juno has proven her to be a future superstar. Combine Diablo’s script, Pages terrific handling of the lead character, and a top notch director and supporting cast, and you end up with a movie that should get itself nominated for many Oscars this year (I think it’s safe to say a best picture nod is in store), and could even take home a trophy or two.
The Bad: I want to try to tear this film apart, but simply can’t. It had me smiling from start to finish. While some of the dialogue is sometimes too witty, I still found myself eating it up.
The Summary: This little indie could be the next Big Fat Greek Wedding.