The pregnancy test is positive. Now what?

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2008)

Juno (2007) was directed by Jason Reitman, and stars Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff. As the movie opens, 16-year-old Juno is trying her third pregnancy test. When it's positive, she has to make decisions that will obviously have a bearing on how she lives the rest of her life. Michael Cera plays Paulie Bleeker, the baby's father. Allison Janney is great in the supporting role of Juno's stepmother. (Juno and her stepmother don't hate each other, but they don't exactly have a warm and cozy relationship either.) Jennifer Garner plays the impossibly elegant--and somewhat compulsive--Vanessa, who desperately wants a baby, but can't conceive. Jason Bateman is her husband. He's eager enough about adopting, but he's drawn to Juno in a definitely unhealthy way.
This isn't exactly a feel-good movie. It's not really a teen movie, a feminist movie, or an anti-feminist movie either. It floats close to all those genres, but doesn't fit any of them. The ending comes down the way life often comes down--not perfect, but not so bad either.
We saw this film in a theater, but it will work on DVD.
P.S. Be sure not to miss the writing on the note Juno leaves for Vanessa. It's framed and hanging on the wall in Vanessa's home. The note is less than ten words long, but it tells it all.