Naturally, Juno comes out first to Leah and Bleeker, who both vow to stand beside her when she goes in for an abortion. But after a protracted visit to a clinic and last-minute jitters on Juno's part, Leah comes up with the idea to find a pair of adoptive parents...in the Pennysaver. With Leah at her side(Bleeker abdi-cates all responsibility in the matter to Juno), she finally tells her dad Mac(J.K. Simmons) and stepmom Brenda(Allison Janney). Both are shocked yet supportive of Juno's mature decision to give the baby up for adoption, while secretly relieved among themselves that they won't have to be grandparents. Mac drives Juno to meet the hopeful parents-to-be, affluent yuppie couple Vanessa and Mark Loring(Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, reunited from The Kingdom).

     If there is any one true fault with Juno the film, it's that every-one is far too accepting of Juno the character's state. While her parents are shocked and Mac does make a few snide comments about said state a couple of times in the film, there is no outrage from them, as there would be in real life. Having known and worked with several teenage girls who became mothers before their time, I can say with certainty that a lot of their parents never get over that initial shock, or the feeling that either they've failed their daughters in rearing them properly, or the daughters have disappointed them in a way from which there is no recovery, no matter how much the new addition to the family is loved. While Juno receives some disapproving, judgmental looks from other townsfolk, the movie itself never once seriously touches on any real emotion regarding this matter. It may have been that Fox ordered Reitman and Ms. Cody to keep things happy-happy/joy-joy light on this subject, but it's a realism that's sorely missing.

     The actors, however, all hit their mark so perfectly that this gripe can eventually be overlooked. Jennifer Garner nails the almost cloying overeagerness of Vanessa's desire to adopt and care for Juno's baby, while it's obvious from the moment we meet Bateman's Mark that his heart just isn't in the process at all. While both wannabe parents make solid money, Vanessa is obvi-ously the true breadwinner and figuratively keeps her husband's testicles in a jar on the mantle. He's a frustrated musician, a once rock star in waiting, who sold out his dreams for corporate com-fort writing jingles for ads. He chafes in the marriage, and when a beautiful and young kindred spirit in Juno comes along--someone who shares many of the same interests, and whom Mark realizes would never judge him--he prepares to throw all caution to the wind in order to live his life the way he dreams it should be. It's another flawless performance from Bateman, who is rapidly becoming the new Christian Bale, in terms of underrated actors.

     Ellen Page(X-Men III: The Last Stand) also does a brilliant turn as the title character, who is brash, intelligent, streetsmart, but for all her wits and witicisms, is just a young girl who at times finds herself in over her head in certain situations, such as misjudging her relationships with both Mark and Bleeker. Michael Cera as oftentimes clueless baby daddy Bleeker is also spot-on. The problem with his character is that he's almost identical in many respects to the not-quite-as-smart-as-he-thinks-he-is character of Evan from Superbad. Hopefully in one of his next roles, Cera will finally get to stretch some acting muscles.

     J.K. Simmons(the Spider-Man trilogy, Rendition) is as depen-dable as always, and if one were a teenage girl facing an unex-pected case of preggers, his Mac is definitely the dad you'd want on your side. Allison Janney(The West Wing, Hairspray) is just as solid as the rest of the cast, but almost vanishes into the cipher role of stepmom. But this is due more to the fault of scriptwriter Cody than Janney's. Aside from an obsession with dogs, there is little to distinguish the character of Brenda, leaving Janney to just do the best she can with what she's been given.

     I won't give away what happens with the baby, since it basic-ally is the central plot point of the story. I will say that while you expect certain things to happen, not everything does in quite the way you'll think it will. Yes, other bigger films are opening all over the place this weekend--but in between Fleet Street's demon barber and the mockudrama of Dewey Cox, find some time for Juno.

     It'll be time well spent.