Boundaries are constantly crossed in "Juno," the new comedy directed by Jason Reitman, boundaries between youth and maturity, love and desire, freedom and responsibility- even between classes and neighborhoods. So it is hardly surprising that the movie has come under fire from some critics for crossing one line too many, by supposedly promoting, or at least condoning, teenage pregnancy.
It does neither.
The movie is steadfastly, morally neutral on the issue. Juno (Ellen Page), a quirky, confused, 16-year-old living in a blue-collar neighborhood of Minneapolis, has sex once with the classmate who has a crush on her, Bleeker, or "Bleek" (played brilliantly by Michael Cera), and gets pregnant.
As opposed to, say, Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up," in which the leading couple haggles endlessly over who was at fault, and how, "Juno" simply takes it as it is: a mistake, somewhat irresponsible, but not the end of the world. It is a consequence of the reality that teenagers are "sexually active," a phrase that the movie enjoys poking fun at.
After bolting from an abortion clinic populated by all sorts of eccentric and intrusive types (here the film strikes one of its few false notes), Juno, with the encouragement of her best friend, Leah (Olivia Thirlby), decides to carry the baby to term and hand it over for adoption. The lucky parents-to-be are an upscale couple, Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), who live in a chichi suburban subdivision.
Juno gets more than she bargained for. Not - as one might have expected from a lesser movie - because she has pangs of doubt (not many, anyway), but because under their shiny, perfect-couple surface, Mark and Vanessa have some problems, and soon Juno is caught up in them.
It is a measure of the movie's intelligence that Juno is both a victim of her youthful innocence and a willing accomplice.
For a while, it seems as if the film veers too far toward lampooning the couple, particularly Vanessa, as vain, acquisitive yuppies. But the ending, which I won't give away, sets things right. Mark, who is a little like Kevin Spacey's character in "American Beauty," is revealed as a cad, while it is Vanessa who is redeemed.
"Juno" is a sweet, sharp, and funny film, and kudos goes to nearly everyone involved, starting with the virtually unknown screenwriter, who goes by the name of Diablo Cody and is a former female stripper. Reitman (son of director and "Ghostbusters" co-star Ivan Reitman) shapes the scenes beautifully, and the cast is uniformly wonderful. Special praise must go to Cera, Thirlby, Bateman, J.K. Simmons as Juno's down-to-earth, solidly middle-class father, and, of course, Page, who brings an impressive range and delicious insouciance to the title role.
Few movies have managed to capture the emotional turmoil, conflicting impulses, and just plain bewilderment of adolescence as smartly and humorously as "Juno." This is one flick that is almost impossible not to like. Catch it!
"Juno" is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language. It is playing at The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY, and Cinerom in Winsted, CT.
