An intelligent and touching comedy

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2008)

When Juno (Ellen Page) discovers she is pregnant at 16 she embarks on a life-affirming journey in which she discovers much about the reality of relationships and, of course, parenthood. After discovering perspective adoptive parents willing to raise her baby as their own, Juno tries to maintain a semblance of normalcy during the nine months of her pregnancy in the hope that once the baby is born life can continue as if nothing had happened.
This film is all about Ellen Page and her wonderful portrayal of the slightly twisted social misfit, Juno. Her performance is sublime and despite her older looks she plays the sixteen year old brilliantly. She delivers the intelligent script naturally and with razor sharp wit. Without her this film would have had half the impact it did.
This doesn't take anything away from Diablo Cody who has written a superb social commentary which is genuinely funny. This is an intelligent comedy and definitely for the more mature audiences out there, it never resorts to low-brow humour and is never crass, there are no cheep laughs, no gratuitous nudity and no high school clichés. The humour is observational and many laughs stem from the dialogue, more importantly the humour feels natural, never does it feel forced or contrived. This is genius writing.
All of the support performances are equally superb. Michael Cera (Paulie) is excellent as the awkward teenage father who is not only dealing with the pregnancy but is suffering all the more because of his unrequited love for Juno. Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman are perfect as the adoptive parents struggling with a marriage on the brink of falling apart and Leah, the vastly more popular friend of Juno's, is played effortlessly by Olivia Thirlby.
There is very little to dislike about this film, you can't help but get swept away by Juno herself and the vast array of colourful and rich characters that encircle her. It's nice to have an intelligent and thought-provoking teenage comedy once in a while, especially in the sea of American Pie and American Pie wannabes. Highly recommended.