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On the flip side, we can also appreciate that Mark, who used to play in a rock and roll band before he turned to writing commercial jingles, feels constricted by Vanessa's need to form a proper suburban domestic family unit. His music, his comics, and his horror movies are all confined to a single room while Vanessa seeks his opinion on which shade of yellow to color the baby's room. Mark makes at least one very bad decision because he feels so stifled, but we can understand why he does.

And then there are Juno's parents. As Juno's father, J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man's J. Jonah Jameson) lets the love and concern he has for his daughter show through his usual gruff exterior. And as Juno's stepmother, Alison Janney (who has played her share of caricatures, most recently in Hairspray) has moments of genuine warmth and compassion. Remarkably, while the film is clearly told from Juno's point of view, and while Juno's taste in music and knack for witticisms mark her as an alter ego of sorts for screenwriter Cody, the film is smart enough and broad-minded enough to recognize that Juno really is a naïve child in some ways, and that sometimes the adults—including those that Juno taunts—really do know better than her.

Juno and best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby)

Juno is directed by Jason Reitman, whose last film was the scathingly brilliant satire Thank You for Smoking. The new film is, if anything, even better than his previous effort, and it works equally well as a story of pre-mid-life crisis—when, exactly, did Gen-Xers like Mark abandon the mosh pit for mortgages and families?—and as a straightforward high-school comedy, with hints of possible romance as Paulie shyly suggests that he and Juno should get back "together" on a long-term basis.

Note to those who may be drawn to the movie by the pro-life elements: It would be a stretch to say that Cody or Reitman intended this to be a "socially conservative" film. Juno and her friends are still teenagers, with all that that implies, though the jokes they tell never stray outside PG-13 territory. (This isn't a crass Judd Apatow film, in other words.) Also, it is worth noting that, when all is said and done, neither Juno nor her child end up in a traditional family, as such. But in a way, that just underscores the film's implicit pro-life sensibility. Life is life, and deserves to be nurtured, even—if not especially—when everything around it is broken.

Talk About It

1. Juno's dad says, "I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when," and Juno replies, "I don't know what kind of girl I am." How does keeping her baby affect Juno's sense of her own identity? How do her choices shape her? How do you think things would have turned out for her if she hadn't kept the baby?
2. Juno's stepmother says, "Someone's going to get a special blessing from Jesus in this garbage dump of a situation." In what way is the baby a blessing? Who is blessed by the baby? Juno? Vanessa? Mark? Juno's father and stepmother? Are pregnancies ever bad? Are unwanted pregnancies ever good? How can good come out of possibly bad situations like this? (Genesis 45:4-8; Romans 8:28.)
3. What does the film say about pregnancy and abortion? Does it neatly fit into a "pro-life" or "pro-choice" category? Why do you think the film deals with the subject the way it does? What difference does it make that babies have "fingernails"?
4. What does the film say about relationships, marriage and divorce? Note how Juno discusses her birth mother in the opening voiceover. Note also how Juno wishes it were possible for relationships to last forever. Is she naïve? Is she tapping into a certain truth? Why don't some relationships last? What should people do when they don't?

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