Review: Juno

Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody used to be a stripper. She's articulate, attractive, and not in the least bit press shy. Young Canadian actress Ellen Page, who already made her own waves last year with Hard Candy, is also enormously appealing. She's pretty and tiny and delivers Cody's super hip dialogue with just the right amount of offhand understatement. They are a winning combo, and the buzz for Jason Reitman's second film has been almost deafening.

A Pretty Good Film: No More, No Less

The verdict over here: Juno is pretty good. I liked it. I liked the character of Juno MacGuff (Page), the precocious titular teenage girl. She doesn't dress like one of Tina Fey's Mean Girls. She keeps her hair back in a short, high ponytail, and wears low hanging blue jeans. No make up. She also talks like no one else. Everything Juno says is unexpected, spoken in an idiosyncratic teenage vernacular -- way cooler than anything anyone without a well-crafted script could possibly pull off.

When Juno gets pregnant after a night of experimentation with Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), she decides not to abort the baby and instead give it to a deserving yuppie couple who can't have one of their own. The story is believable only because Page makes it so.

The attractive yuppie couple she finds in a local newspaper (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) are not as perfect as they seem to be. Whereas Juno's quirky parents are just about perfect; like Juno, her father (J.K. Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney) spout funny and perceptive truths, and they don't yell at her, ever. Juno's best girlfriend (Olivia Thirby) sticks by her side, and her geeky boyfriend is entirely irreproachable, steadfast in his puppy dog adoration and just as cute, in an equally calculated, off beat way.

The Problem With Buzz

The problem with too much buzz is that it sets up impossible expectations. Though too precocious and polished, Juno manages to charm, with many lovely moments. In the tradition of maladjusted teen comedies, however, Juno doesn't rank among the recent greats. The pacing and soundtrack are wholly indebted to Wes Anderson's Rushmore. Ghost World's Enid outclasses Juno with her ruthless lack of sentiment. This year's overlooked Rocket Science offers more hilarious moments, as well as Anna Kendrick, who has her own way with words.