Archly entertaining movie (Mild spoilers)

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2008)

Juno is the story of a teenage girl who becomes pregnant by her milquetoast boyfriend. They go to a quirky high school in a quirky town that is well familiar to anyone who's seen a Sundance movie in the past ten years. Despite the indie movie tropes (e.g., cool, hip parents, even cooler and hipper kids, weak male protagonist, alt rock soundtrack, etc.) Juno does in its second half transcend the familiarity and the irony to achieve something great.
A big reason for this is Ellen Page. Even in the movie's first 15 minutes, when the painfully arch, hipster dialogue (particularly bad is the scene with Rainn Wilson, home skillet!) threatens to drown the movie in a cess pool of snark, Page shines through.
She enlivens Juno and makes her a force of nature. Even though it's hard to believe her as a 16-year old who speaks such a hyper-referential argot and has an encyclopedic knowledge of punk rock bands (most of which became irrelevant or broke up 10+ years before she was born!) Page makes it difficult not to watch her. Indeed, she's a very talented actress who stands in sharp contrast to the glut of Lindsay Lohans and Mandy Moores.
Most of the movie's problems are with the award winning screenplay. Juno's pregnancy is incredibly easy. We see no morning sickness, none of the exhaustion that strikes in the first and third trimesters, the ankle swelling, nothing at all. Juno's glowing the whole movie.
Also things in general happen just a little too easily for litte Juno. Her parents don't even say they're disappointed in her. Her father's bewildered, sad-sack expression doesn't change when she tells him she's pregnant.
There's not a trace of social ostracization in her high school, one of the places where status is the most nakedly and unapologetically pursued. She's even become a little more popular.
And despite Juno's unflappability (which to be fair she does lose in the end) she's still incredibly cavalier when speaking with her friend about getting an abortion. "Yo, I'm going to the A-Bo clinic and get my womb hoovered. Maybe after, we could go to the mall and mack on some cheesefries, homeskillet!"
It's refreshing to see a movie about unplanned pregnancy minus the platitudes and moral handwringing. Kids have sex, kids get pregnant. It's been happening as long as there's been kids and pregnancy. Still, there's nothing much at stake for Juno in this movie. She doesn't have a lot to overcome.
It's also refreshing to see a reaction to unplanned pregnancy different than total devastation, but jeez, does it even bother Juno a little? There's no time in the movie when she alone and pauses for a second to process what's happening? Even her decision in the clinic to not have an abortion is played for goofy laughs. The only anti-abortion protester outside the clinic is an Asian girl mindlessly chanting "Babies want to be borned."
The screenplay and director fell a little too much in love with the eponymous Juno and that's the audience's job.