Jason Reitman scores with another comedy - one of the year's best.

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2007)

Juno is a 16 year old girl who one day discovers she is pregnant. First she wants an abortion, but then soon realizes she would rather have the baby and give it to a family in need of one.
When Thank You For Smoking came out it was the biggest surprise of the year. A dark comedy that wasn't afraid to give it straight. Confident directing lead a strong cast. This year, Jason Reitman is at it again with Juno, a heart-warming comedy that...again, tells it like it is. This time we follow a young girl, played strongly by Ellen Page as she faces the world with a bun in the oven. Juno is not your typical teenage girl, she can't even classify herself in one niche. Page brings a heart-warming and grounded performance that comes off as strong, yet vulnerable at the same time. She is supported by Michael Cera, her goofy best friend, who is also the father of her baby. Cera again plays the character of George Michael. We also saw this same character in Superbad earlier this year. It's not a bad thing, Cera has the awkward comedy timing down pat, but he needs to break out of that character and move on to bigger things.
Her father, J.K Simmons and step-mother Allison Janney support Juno through her hard time. Both seem more eager to help Juno through this, then to throw her through a wall, which is what would normally happen in other flicks. Janney takes her to her ultra-sound test and defends her when her teenage motherhood is brought into question, Simmons accompanies her to the adoptive parents house, to make sure she isn't taken advantage of. The adoptive parents are Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. An odd pairing if you ask me, but both play their characters very well because it suits them as so. Bateman is a man trying to get back his youth, while Garner is desperately in need of a child to call her own. While it is odd to see the two paired together, they work very well when they are apart.
Jason Reitman shows us that he is not simply a one trick pony. With the success of his first feature "Thank You For Smoking" and this year's "Juno", Reitman is on the fast track to becoming the hot new thing in Hollywood. His care and attention for the film is apparent throughout. Juno at the abortion clinic is so paranoid and on nerve that she freaks out at the smallest things, which happen to be the little things people are doing around her, like scratching their arm or biting their nails. The emphasis of the sound on these small insignificant things, make them significant. His care for these characters that were created by Diablo Cody is from the heart. These people are every day people, with everyday problems. He knows this and shows this. Being pregnant isn't Juno's only problem, she has to deal with the people in her life who can't seem to find love. She needs reassurance that there is love out there.
The screenplay at first seems to be trying too hard to be smart and funny, but once it gets over itself, it becomes just that. The dialogue is quick and funny and said with ease from the actors. The story is simple and charming, yet feels complicated and depressing. Juno knows what she wants, but the world seems to be crashing down when things don't go her way. The amount of care put into these character are enormous, they are not here to simply tell a story, there are here to be the story.
The one fault is not from a writing standpoint, or technical or even from the acting. It's more personal. Without giving anything away, I'll just say that the film take a small detour from it's warm hearted comedy and goes into some depressing serious scenes. It didn't work too well for me. Although it is believable and contributes to the story, I felt that it would have been better if it had left that part out and taken a different turn.
Juno is this years "Little Miss Sunshine". Full of heart and charm and will entertain you to no end. It has a great soundtrack to boot. The music fits the film perfectly with mood and story. When 2007 saw pirates, ogres and superheroes flying around, all it took was a 16 year old girl to win our hearts and our attention.