A baby film
delivers big

At the Movies
By Senitra Horbrook

Add Juno to this year’s list of movies about unplanned pregnancies.
Earlier in the year, we had Knocked Up and Waitress, which were great partly because both films felt different and fresh. Well, so is Juno, an upcoming independent flick from Fox Searchlight Pictures, the company that also released Little Miss Sunshine.
Juno is getting a lot of buzz for Oscar season, and having just seen the movie, I now understand why. It follows 16-year-old Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page), who gets pregnant after losing her virginity to good friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera).
After quickly considering "nipping it in the bud," Juno decides she wants to give the baby to a loving family who can’t have a child of their own. Juno’s father (J.K. Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney) support Juno’s decision. Besides, the movie would have been only about 20 minutes long had Juno decided to terminate her pregnancy.
Juno could have been very generic and boring. But in her very first screenplay, former stripper/blogger turned writer, Diablo Cody, and director Jason Reitman, in just his second movie (he also directed Thank You for Smoking), make sure it isn’t. Juno is filled with plenty of sarcastic yet witty one-liners to make for an entertaining 90 minutes.
One of my favorite lines is near the beginning when Juno heads to the corner store to buy her third pregnancy test (because the others looked more like a division sign than a plus sign) and the store clerk (Rainn Wilson from The Office in a cameo role here) tells her that just because she peed on the stick doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have to pay for it.
Juno finds her perfect adoption family while flipping through the Penny Saver magazine with her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby). Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) live in an impeccably clean home in the suburbs. Mark and Juno develop an interesting friendship, which leads Mark to wonder if he’s truly ready to be a father. Vanessa, on the other hand, is absolutely ready, but is concerned that Juno may change her mind about wanting to give up her baby. Garner’s great at making the audience sympathize with her plight here.
Aside from the great writing, Page is the standout in Juno. The 20-year-old actress, who previously starred in another indie flick, Hard Candy, is in nearly every scene. It would be difficult to imagine anyone else playing that role. Juno undergoes a transformation (both physical and emotional) that is remarkable to watch thanks to Page’s acting.
Cera doesn’t have as much to do here as he did in Superbad this summer, but he is funny in an understated way when he is on-screen. His character is sort of a dorky guy who runs track and therefore spends most of the movie in short yellow shorts. He also has a fondness for Tic Tacs.
The lack of new wide releases last week left me wondering what to review this week. Sure, there was the substandard-looking thriller Awake, which wasn’t screened in advance for critics. I decided instead to check out a preview screening of Juno, which opens in limited release in Philadelphia on Friday, Dec. 14. I was immensely happy with that decision because what is most surprising about Juno is that a very sweet, simple and feel-good kind of movie rises from this quirky comedy. ••
Movie Grade: A-