But just because they’re open to listening to each and every one of their daughter’s more idiosyncratic ramblings with an open heart doesn’t mean they even remotely want to learn what she’s about to tell them. It appears Juno managed to get herself pregnant during her first virginal ramblings with Paulie, and while she fully grasps she’s not remotely ready to raise a child she’s also just as sure she isn’t going to be heading to Planned Parenthood for an abortion.

Instead, she’s going to give the child to another apparently loving couple looking to adopt a baby. Flipping through the Penny Saver Juno just knew in her heart of hearts that Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman) Loring are the ones to raise the child growing within her loins as their very own. This feeling is confirmed when she and Mac go to visit the pair and the pregnant young girl discovers the wannabe papa side of the equation is as much of an underground Rock geek as she is.

Needless to say, things do not go exactly as planned. Vanessa and Mark’s marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears, while Juno’s own relationship with friend Paulie might not be as unbreakable as she once believed. But this is one kid who looks at life’s roadblocks and laughs believing she can conquer whatever gets thrown her way and she’s not about to let a couple hiccups like a potential divorce or the teenage love of her life going to the school dance without her deter from getting the happy ending she feels she deserves.

If you were one of those who thought Thank You for Smoking was a fantastically entertaining comedic satire, hold on to your butts because Jason Reitman’s follow up Juno is even better. Written by newcomer Diablo Cody (who just might have the best name in all of Hollywood), this is one film where the laughs and the smarts, don’t just go hand-in-hand, they romp down the theater aisle like two long-lost lovebirds looking for a quiet corner to slovenly make-out in.

In other words, I loved this movie, and something tells me just about anyone lucky enough to get in line to see it will undoubtedly feel the same. Cody’s script is both literate and hysterical, the thing a corrosive gem burrowing deep inside your funny bone forcing you to laugh out loud even when every cell in your body tells you doing so just isn’t right. Her observations of youth culture and how parents (and adults) retain bits and pieces of it as they grow older is just priceless, while the characters she three-dimensionally builds are as genuine and true as those living right next door.

But the real sensation here is young Page. Already having made a hair-raising impression in 2005’s Hard Candy

(especially for guys), she becomes instantaneously unforgettable here. Juno MacGuff is as complicated and as dynamic as any teenage character ever put to screen, and like Ferris Bueller, Jim Stark, Tracy Flick, Jeff Spicoli or Frances 'Baby' Houseman before her this is one girl no one in their right mind would ever put into a corner. 

With outstanding support from the entire cast (especially Simmons, Janney and Superbad star Cera) and magnificently assured direction from Reitman, Juno might just end up being this year’s Little Miss Sunshine. Heck, it might even be worthy of an Oscar or two. All that aside, the only thing that really matters is whether or not it’s any good and on that front, this one doesn’t just score, it manages the comedic equivalent of a knockout.

Film Rating: êêê1/2  (out of 4)

- review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle

Additional Links:

-  Interview with writer Diablo Cody by Sara Michelle Fetters
-  Juno Theatrical Trailer