Directed by: Jason Reitman
Starring: Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Ellen Page, Olivia Thirlby
Rating: PG -13

Ellen Page and Michael Cera in Juno. (Courtesy photo)

The trick for best appreciating a movie like Juno is to catch it as early in its run as possible. That way you avoid the escalating adulation that follows a little movie that catches fire. My track record in recent years has been to wait beyond the ideal point. It happened with Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine, the two films to which Juno is most often and most appropriately compared. I enjoyed both movies and it’s almost always an encouraging thing for the art form when an independent film becomes a popular success. But I couldn’t help but find them both overrated, and the same goes for Juno. But it’s also a more thoughtfully executed story, and easily the best of the three. This trio of films actually makes up a new sub-genre: the conflict-free indie comedy. Okay, there’s a little conflict—some people get into a fight, maybe a character outlives his narrative relevance and kicks the bucket. But for the most part we are asked to expend little in our commitment as viewers. And much of the dramatic resonance is wrung out of the latest offbeat soundtrack. So Juno is a little proud of itself. It’s not as insightful or as original as it would have you believe. But it’s still a ball. Juno is a real pleasure to watch, thanks to a very good cast and a script that constantly swivels left when you think it’s going right.

Sixteen-year-old Juno McGuff (Ellen Page) does not care to be ordinary. She chews on an unlit pipe, eats her lunch in the school trophy case, and treats her unexpected pregnancy as a vaguely annoying new challenge. The father is her sweet, gentle best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), and he may also be the only guy who could put up with her general contrariness. Unable to go through with an abortion (no political statement here—the clinic is just too unpleasant for her), Juno and her other best friend, Leah (Olivia Thirlby), hunt for prospective parents in the Pennysaver. They find Vanessa and Mark Loring (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman), the perfect-looking yuppie couple. Juno even sets up a meeting with them before telling her dad (JK Simmons) and step-mom (Alison Janney). Everyone takes it quite well, and things are looking good until Juno begins to have her doubts about the tightly-wound Vanessa. At least Mark is a composer and former rock band guitarist. His coolness can make up for her being so square.

McGuff. Bleeker. Pennysavers. There’s also “Sunny Dee” and a hamburger phone. It gets to be a bit much, but ultimately the collection of marvelous performances makes it all easy to forgive. Diminutive Ellen Page (X-Men United, Hard Candy) is not afraid to make Juno unlikable. In fact, some viewers probably won’t like her, which could be a problem. Page is great in a comic performance that doesn’t seem like it would come out of her. Michael Cera, playing a slight variation on his familiar sweeties from Arrested Development and Superbad, is at his most lovable yet. He almost seems more like an adorable pet than the very fine, restrained actor he is turning out to be. Jason Bateman, Cera’s costar on the sublime Arrested Development, is also at his best as Mark. Maybe he isn’t entirely convincing as a former rocker, but Bateman lends a doleful note as an aging man-child who is all too good at rationalizing his immaturity. The nice surprise is how Bateman’s Mark and Garner’s Vanessa end up being more complex than Juno—or we—give them credit for. Garner is so intense as Vanessa it can be a little hard to watch, but it’s a good performance from the mannered actress. JK Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman movies) has now perfected amiable gruffness. He’s terrific as Juno’s dad. And Alison Janney turns what might have been another clichéd Midwesterner into a far more interesting character than dog-obsessed stepmoms are usually allowed to be.

Jason Reitman follows up his well-received Thank You for Smoking with this very different movie. He does a fine job, though he borrows liberally from the toolbox of Wes Anderson (this is getting to be a real habit with indie directors). Yet it’s not the director but the writer who is receiving the attention. Diablo Cody’s transformation from stripper to screenwriter has become part of the movie’s underdog story. And Cody does deserve a lot of credit. She has a fun voice—one that could use just a little more restraint in the future, but an appealing new voice nonetheless. It will be interesting to see how the movie holds up on a second viewing. But considering its box office success, clearly many viewers have already gone back for more.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.