Juno (PG-13) ***

By Rene Rodriguez

”That ain’t no Etch-a-Sketch,” the drugstore clerk tells the teenaged protagonist of Juno, a 16-year-old girl who has emerged from the store’s bathroom shaking a pregnancy test-kit wand in her hand, hoping she can wave away the pink cross on its face. 

But she can’t, of course. After having had impulsive sex (once) with her geeky friend Paulie (Superbad‘s Michael Cera), Juno winds up pregnant, and the rest of this surprising, disarmingly funny and big-hearted movie follows what happens to her over the course of the next 10 or so months.

Here’s what doesn’t happen: Every and any cliché inherent in films about teenage pregnancy. Juno, which was written by the scarily talented Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking), is not interested in after-school-special cautionary lessons or hand-wringing drama. The movie is as forgiving and nonjudgmental of its heroine’s plight as her father (J.K. Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney). Instead of condemning or punishing her, they accept what’s happened and focus on what to do next.

After a brief flirtation with abortion, Juno decides to put her baby up for adoption and pre-selects a well-off couple (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) to be the child’s eventual parents. But a lot can happen in nine months.

Played by Ellen Page, a 20-year-old actress who looks like she’s going on 13, Juno appears to be too young and wispy to be pregnant, or even having sex, which is part of what makes her character so appealing. Whip-smart, independent and brave (although far from fearless), Page makes Juno an instantly likable heroine, and the dialogue by Cody, which could have easily sounded too arch and cutesy in the mouths of lesser actors, simply adds to her appeal. She’s a kid smarter than most around her, but not nearly as smart as she thinks she is.

 Not everyone gets the sort of dialogue Page does, although Janney makes the best of every line, including a hilarious rant against a sonogram technician who dares to tsk-tsk Juno. But every actor provides exactly what is needed from them, whether it’s Garner’s moving portrayal of a woman’s frustration at her inability to produce her own children to Cera’s typically laid-back turn as an outsider who is much more aware of the world than he lets on. Juno comes on all wisecracking and aren’t-we-clever, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself getting choked up — with happy tears — by the end.

This story was originally published December 20, 2007 at 5:12 AM.