One of the most dangerous games a movie studio can play with its consumers is the game of expectations. Too often, studios overhype films that are undeserving of a cent of marketing. Other times, there’s so little buzz surrounding a film that it catches viewers by surprise. Entering into the latter camp is director Jason Reitman’s second offering, the sweetly sardonic Juno. Delivering everything its hype promised and still keeping a few tricks up its sleeve, this candid but sly comedy is one of the year’s most satisfying experiences.

Our title character (Ellen Page) is a sixteen-year-old high schooler for whom the adjective “precocious” was specifically designed. She’s both smart and a smart aleck, a combination that does her well when she finds out that her first sexual experience, a one-night stand of sorts with her best friend Paul Bleeker (Michael Cera), ended with conception. After downing enough Sunny D to take three pregnancy tests in one afternoon, she privately considers abortion before her conscience gets the better of her. Knowing that she’s unfit to be a mother, though, she finds a yuppie couple – the aging hipster Mark (Jason Bateman) and the tightly wound professional Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) – to adopt her offspring through an ad in the local supermarket circular.

The situation sounds like the stuff that indie film is made of – and, indeed, the movie’s first 15 minutes is a bit too twee for its own good – but the performances of a brilliant ensemble cast lift the concept far above the ordinary. To a person, the players here are brilliant, starting at the top with Page. Hers are small and relatively inexperienced shoulders upon which to place a movie, but she turns in a star making performance that is mature past her 20 years. Cera, though mildly underused, gives Bleek a sweet and supportive voice that flexes beyond his usual awkward tones.

The adults are equally fascinating. As Mark – a would be rock star who sold out to do commercial jingles but holds his punk roots close – becomes a older brother figure with romantic undertones to Juno, Bateman brings a friendly backsplash for some of the movie’s later dark turns. Garner, stuck playing a stereotype of glass ceiling-shattering suburbanite women, is nonetheless at her best. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, as Juno’s father and stepmom, prove that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; each is warm and supportive of Juno’s choice but has their reservations, which often come out in some choice dialogue.

As Juno grows from self-aware wisecracker to potential mother, the movie matures along with her, and the time the gestation period is complete, the film develops into one of the single best movies of the year. It’s one of those movies that you can’t say enough about, but lest I spoil it for you, dear reader, I won’t. Just go see it.

Rating: * * * * * of 5

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