You may have heard that Juno is a pro-life film about a pregnant teenager. You may also have heard that it is a pro-choice celebration of a young woman’s freedom to determine what happens with her own body. Neither of these viewpoints is particularly correct—and yet both of them are. What the film is really about is one young woman’s desperate need to believe in true love, and her own rocky path in search of that ideal. Juno is, in fact, a “cautionary whale,” as the title character puts it, about looking for love in all the right places—but going about it in very mixed up ways.

The film opens with Juno guzzling Sunny D in order to hurry along an EPT purchased from a corner market. Her credits-sequence trek to the store evokes the comic-book style of American Splendor, and this might lead the filmgoer to wonder: How can one possibly take a comic book view of teen pregnancy? What does that look like? Just how insufferably glib is this movie going to be?

The good news is that the style reflects Juno’s mind: active, hip, sharp, and witty—and young, kind of scattershot in the midst of all that intelligence. And like Juno, the film takes the unpleasant reality and hardship of teen pregnancy pretty seriously. (And still, like Juno with the ability to laugh at itself.)

Where does this take Juno? Well, at various stages it takes her to interviews with prospective adoptive parents for the infant-to-be-born-later, to a sonogram specialist, to an abortion clinic, and to that corner store where she polishes off the Sunny D and asks for the restroom key. It also asks her to take a hard look at her fingernails. (Trust me on this; and be sure to take a good look at Juno’s fingernails, too.)

Most importantly, it takes her, more than once, to the baby’s father—and this is the central conflict for the story’s arc. As the months and the seasons pass, Juno’s journey takes her through various reactions to Paulie Bleeker’s role in the pregnancy. At first, she’s blithely dismissive, asserting that the sex (and the resulting pregnancy) was all her idea. That notion, dumbfounding as it is to Paulie, is credible with Juno’s parents. They know that she’s the kind of girl who, in a relentlessly digital age, goes her own way and talks with her friends via a hamburger-phone land-line. No Blackberry for this girl. Juno will have her way with things.

That’s where Juno’s relationship with Paulie has room to grow. And that growth is influenced by the relationship of those around her, from girls at school with unhealthy fixations on male teachers to her own father and step-mother, both of whom struck out on love first time around. And then there’s Mark and Vanessa, the prospective adoptive parents… Basically, what Juno encounters is a whole lot of real-world imperfection. Will cynicism win the day, or will optimism? And how?

One thing I can say without ruining the joy of discovering this story: this film isn’t looking to rain on anybody’s parade, least of all Juno’s. And the real joy of the film is not in Juno learning the “right” answers to all of the messes in her life; the joy is in how the film allows her to come to her decisions, and how it invites us along for the ride.

The script by newcomer Cody Diablo—as one might guess from the name, also a woman who will have her way with things—is sharp and witty, and Juno’s arch dialogue is utterly believable if one has ever known a teen like Juno. (For me, a high school cohort named Brian Tittle comes easily to mind.) But even if one hasn’t, Ellen Page’s dynamite performance as Juno will at least lead one to suspect that teens like Juno might actually exist—and even be likable, if you let them.

The supporting performances are almost all equally sharp. Michael Cera (Paulie), J.K. Simmons (Juno’s dad), and Allison Janney (Juno’s stepmom) are all worth mentioning; especially good (and surprisingly so) is Jason Bateman as Mark, whose own personal foibles are a sharp reminder that teens are not the only youngsters we have to worry about.

So who is this film best suited for? I’d say: parents who have a hard time understanding teens; teens who have a hard time understanding parents; any kid who thinks that sex is a trivial thing devoid of consequences; and anyone who is seriously interested in the question of undying, responsible love.

It’s funny that, two years running now, Christmas releases have featured unwed mothers unsure of what to do with the babies they carry—particularly in light of the unwed pregnancy of the last young woman to play the Virgin Mary on the big screen, also last December. While Juno is no Nativity Story, the sentiments that come through in Jason Reitman’s film—whether he intended them or not—are not bitterness and naïveté, but love and peace. What better to find and embrace this time of year?

Juno is rated PG-13 for “mature thematic material, sexual content and language.” The MPAA nails this one, I think. If you have teens in public school, you can be sure they won’t see anything here they haven’t seen (or heard about first-hand) before. And the key word here is “mature.” There’s no sniggering comedy or gratuitousness involved. Still, I don’t think you want your grade-schoolers along.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Greg attended a press screening of Juno.