"Juno"

Just when you've gotten past Knocked Up and its gratuitously unnecessary baby-emerging-victoriously-from-vagina shots, Juno makes accidental pregnancy hilarious again. And by "hilarious", I mean "amazing to watch on screen and terrifying to think of in real life." This time, its a 16 year-old high school student instead of full grown adults, and the name of the game is quirky one-liners rather than random improvisation.

I have to admit. I started this review right after I saw the movie (January 6ish) but am just now finishing it. In the down time, Juno has been nominated for and won a number of awards, including getting "Best Picture", "Best Director", and "Best Actress" nods from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (the Oscars, dummy). I'm not saying that the recent rush of attention is going to change my review, but its impossible to ignore the publicity with the upcoming awards shows. That being said...

I liked Juno. I liked it very much. I might not have liked it as much as some of the people that have gone back to get a second and third helping, but I thought it was very good. I was excited for it to be released nationally and I was never disappointed.

The cast is talented, but not in the traditional Oscar sense of talent. Michael Cera, everyone's favorite awkward kid from "Arrested Development" and Superbad, has again fit perfectly into the role of the strangely cool but uncomfortably soft-spoken nerd. While this works wonderfully in Juno (as it does in both "AD" and Superbad), Juno has made me question the intensity of my Cera-fanhood. Can Michael play another role? So far, his George Michael Bluth, Superbad Evan, and Paulie Bleeker all seem to be characters cut from the same cloth. While I'll still pay money to watch Cera stutter through awkward conversations over and over again, I'd like to see him play something a little different next time. Perhaps Extreme Movie or Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist will be those roles, but I'm doubtful.

Ellen Page is unquestionably the break-out star among this group. Her portrayal of anti-establishment Juno left audiences wanting quick wit and self-deprecation completely satisfied. Her nomination for the Oscar for "Best Actress", however, seemed strange to me. Not that Page didn't do a good job as Juno, but rather because the humor and delivery of jokes is largely deadpan and dry: not normally a great vehicle for showcasing acting talent. She was infinitely likable, however, and it was her performance, and her performance alone, that made audiences and critics alike fall in love with this movie.

Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are a yuppie couple, and they do well, but are the catalyst for the only real twist in this movie, one which made me personally uncomfortable. I knew where the film was going and wanted, very strongly, for it not to go there. Neither of them, friendliness aside, are likable. The hidden star performance was given by J.K. Simmons as Juno's father. His insights are as valuable as they are heartwarming.

The movie is a quirky one, its cinematography, opening, and transitions strangely reminiscent of Rushmore. In fact, if you had told me Juno was a Wes Anderson joint, I wouldn't have been terribly surprised, except that I didn't see Owen Wilson's broken nose anywhere in it. The filmmaking sets the movie as lighter, breezier fare, and the dialogue supports that theme, making Juno a hilarious movie that makes you often question whether you should be laughing at all.

Go ahead and call 2007 "the year of movies about people getting accidentally pregnant." I still loved every minute of it and am scared shitless of it happening to me at the same time.

ROTTEN TOMATOES GRADE: 93% critics, 90% viewers

ANDERSON ELLIS GRADE: A