Juno: DVD, Blu-ray Review (2008)

Ellen Page is Juno MacGuff, a precocious, ultra-hip 16-year-old high-school student who makes the decision that she's going to put an end to her virginity and have sex with the shy but bright Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera).

On a sad-looking, dilapidated chair, they have their moment, which initially appears unremarkable until two months and four days later, Juno realizes just how remarkable it really was.

Faced with the news that she’s pregnant, this wise-cracking kid now must decide whether to abort the child or offer it up to parents who might come to love and nurture it, such as wealthy suburbanites Vanessa (Jennifer Grant) and Mark (Jason Bateman)?

From Diablo Cody’s sharp, Academy Award-winning script, Juno eventually finds herself dealing “with things way beyond my maturity level.”

As her hormones rage and her belly balloons (“I’m a planet!”), her emerging vulnerability takes the movie down a notch from the quirky humor it favors during its electric first half. As such, it becomes more human and real--and easily one of last year’s best films.

Read the full, unedited review here.

Rated PG-13. Grade: A-