Juno

Saw Juno on Christmas Eve - really enjoyed it. It's being billed as This Year's Little Miss Sunshine and Knocked Up From a Woman's Perspective - I'm not sure how helpful those descriptions are, but it's a good movie in its own right.

Juno's (Ellen Page) a junior in high school who gets pregnant after a brief encounter with her friend (Michael Cera). Cera is hilarious as the running-short-wearing, agreeable, not-quite boyfriend, and Juno, thanks to the witty screenplay by Diablo Cody (who really hasn't done anything else), is great as the wise-beyond-her-years teenager.

The dialogue is the sort you'll only find on the more industrious Gilmore Girls episodes - I happen to love it but I suppose some people might find it annoying. Alas, no one talks like this in real life, and I'd be surprised if people make the decision to give up a child for adoption so easily in real life either, but, that's the conceit of the movie.

Juno's parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney), who are for the most part supportive, nevertheless have their moments. After telling them the news, her dad says, "Juno, I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when." Juno flinches at this sting, and after a pause says, "I don't really know what kind of girl I am."

In the end (and I don't think I'm ruining it if you haven't seen it) I think the movie makes a pretty positive message (for a movie that doesn't really push any agenda) that choices women make about unwanted pregnancies are difficult, of course, but they can be dealt with and life goes on.

As the couple Juno chooses to give the baby to, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are evenly matched - him as the laid back, useta-be rocker, and she as the high-strung I-was-born-to-be-a-mommy type. I'm not a big fan of Garner's acting, generally, but I think this was a great role for her. Her character's not as one-dimensional as she first appears.

BTW, it's got a really interesting soundtrack with songs by Kimya Dawson, whose songs are perfectly quirky for this quirky movie. Fo shizz.