Every now and then, I spend a few minutes exploring the internet. Since there’s very little to do on the web, I often resort to just reading about upcoming movies. I first read about Juno a few months ago in a forum about Little Miss Sunshine. One user compared the two movies, saying that Juno was even better. Since Little Miss Sunshine was one of my favorite movies of 2006, I immediately felt compelled to listen to HockeyGirl4Lyfe33.

Once Juno finally came to theaters, I went to the first matinee after school that Friday. To my dismay, 4:00 was the cut off time for matinee prices. Naturally, the showtime was 4:05. I shelled out the $10.25 for one “evening” ticket and found my way into the dimly lit theater.

The film opens as Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) recalls the fateful night that set the whole story in motion. Juno and her best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), found themselves bored and, several bottles of Sunny D later, they experimented with each other in ways they had never imagined.

After returning to reality, she goes to a drugstore and buys a pregnancy test. For the third time, the test confirms she is pregnant.

In an obnoxious cameo as the drugstore cashier, Rainn Wilson (Dwight of The Office) makes fun of the confused young girl. Don’t get me wrong, I think Wilson is hilarious as Dwight. But in this role, his character only comes across as an unnecessarily sharp-tongued jerk.

Juno leaves the drugstore thoroughly distraught and on the advice of her best friend, Leah, goes to an abortion clinic. Yet she quickly realizes she would rather give birth to the baby and give it to adoptive parents (though she claims to have left because of the dentist office-like smell of the clinic).

She’s then left with the task of informing her parents of her pregnancy. Her father (JK Simmons) and step-mother (Allison Janney) take the news quite calmly. Their biggest reaction is to the boy who got her pregnant: Bleeker. “Paulie Bleeker? I didn’t think he had it in him.”

Cera (of Arrested Development and Superbad fame) gives another great performance as an insecure Paulie Bleeker. An avid runner and Tic-Tac eater, Bleeker fits perfectly as Juno’s former lover. Wearing bright yellow short-shorts has never been so cool.

Having decided to keep the baby, Juno must find parents to adopt her child. After locating an ad in the classifieds, Juno and her father drive out to the suburbs to meet the wealthy prospective parents. Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman) live in a large, meticulously clean house, much the opposite of the MacGuff family’s.

While the couple comes across as rather stiff, Juno makes a connection with Mark and realizes he’s actually a very relaxed music-lover being repressed by his wife.

And so we follow Juno over the nine months of her pregnancy. From conflicts in school to conflicts at home to conflicts in the prospective parents’ home, the film addresses the many struggles of a pregnant teenage girl. At the same time, it’s never predictable or clichéd.

Ellen Page gives an incredibly dynamic performance as Juno. Having had only small supporting roles up until this film, Page really reveals herself as an incredibly promising new actress. She’s far more convincing as a pregnant woman than most adult actresses I’ve seen in other movies.

The film is most successful at telling the truth. While her consistently-witty remarks get old in the later parts of the film, they also feel true to her character. The writer and director could have resorted to dozens of obvious teenage pregnancy jokes, but Juno avoids the obvious.

And while Juno is a comedy, it doesn’t make light of the pregnancy itself. The film is more of a commentary on life and love, and feels far more genuine than the plethora of contrived romantic comedies that come out every year.

When the film ended, I made my way home and decided to spend another few minutes on the internet. This time I visited a forum about Juno itself, and came to a realization. HockeyGirl4Lyfe33 was very accurate, but a post by IndieGuy101 quite bothered me.

“It’s all like, trying to be indie, but it’s like totally not.” Thanks for your intelligent, coherent feedback on the movie, IndieGuy101. But then again, this is what makes the internet so great. Anybody can write anything (even if they have nothing helpful to bring to the table). After all, if IndieGuy101 wasn’t allowed to comment on Juno, neither would HockeyGirl4Lyfe33. And where would I be without her comment?