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Juno (played by Ellen Page; X-Men: the Last Stand)<\/em> has\u00a0blurry intercourse with her boyfriend (played by Michael Cera) because she is bored (we find out later; her step-mother, played by Allison Janney, provides this rationale) and, at 16, becomes pregnant. She considers an abortion but as she enters a clinic, a friend who is picketing yells after her: \u201cYour baby has fingernails!\u201d This idea ultimately convinces Juno to have the baby and give him or her up for adoption.<\/p>\n She finds a couple who have advertised in the\u00a0 local Penny Saver. She and her dad go to visit and the adoption process is underway. Complications ensue amidst some underplayed hilarity and commentary by the precocious Juno and her clueless, but generous and good-hearted parents. Juno is is so much smarter than they are, and she knows it,\u00a0yet\u00a0their relationship is so beautifully portrayed, as parents and child, that this remains one of the strongest \u2013 and most touching \u2013 aspects of the film.<\/p>\n Juno<\/em> is playing in art house theaters here in LA but it deserves a general theatrical release; maybe the Golden Globe nomination will give\u00a0this life-affirming film the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n At first I wondered what on earth people were going on about regarding the film (because of the opening sequence), but after five or ten minutes I was hooked. <\/p>\n If you love movies, you won\u2019t want to miss this one. <\/p>\n If you are tentative about movies, try this one and be surprised. Talk about heart.<\/p>\n Others have probably said this but Juno<\/em> feels like a girl\u2019s version of Napoleon Dynamite<\/em>. Both Juno and the father of her baby dwell in high school borderlands; neither one really fits in. Juno<\/em> has a girl as its hero, the main character, and it is very life-affirming, as is the film Waitress<\/em>. <\/p>\n This film deserves a study guide; another film that could launch a thousand conversations \u2013 good conversations about things that matter.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a romance; it is a coming of age film about all kinds of love and understanding what authentic love is.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n