Juno
This wry comedy about a pregnant hipster teen has plenty of snappy lines, and even a sweet scene or two.
by Al HoffSassy, smart 15-year-old art nerd Juno (Ellen Page) is pregnant and wise enough to know she’s unprepared to raise a child. Instead, she chooses to give the baby up for adoption. Jason Reitman’s film charts these few momentous months that find Juno struggling with her decision, her compromised status among her peers, and whether the father, track nerd Paulie (Michael Cera), is worth a second date. Juno is wildly overwritten by hottie scribe du jour Diablo Cody; nearly everybody speaks with arch drollery, and a fair number of wacky lilies are gilded (see: hamburger phone; living room on lawn; pop-culture shout-outs). But if you accept that conceit, Juno also delivers a lot of laughs and some sharp observations, and even lets its guard down for a sweet moment or two. I liked how Juno slyly won me over to the characters such films typically set up to dismiss — Juno’s parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) and the uptight Yuppie adoptive mom (Jennifer Garner). Juno is sure to raise appreciative discussion from some circles about Juno’s opting out of an easily procured abortion, but those folks are missing the backhanded pro-adoption joke: Juno picks the parents out of the freakin’ Pennysaver.
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