'Juno' a real bundle of joy as Page shines
"Juno" -- The first 20 minutes of "Juno" had me worried. The teenspeak dialogue sounded too cute, too precious, too much like "Dawson's Creek." Then something wonderful happened. The characters took over, and "Juno" blossomed into one of the best movies of 2007.
"Juno" tells the story of precocious Midwestern 16-year-old Juno MacGuff, whose cool, cocky persona is shaken when she becomes pregnant. After realizing she can't go through with an abortion, Juno decides to give the baby to a thirtysomething couple eager to adopt a child. As her pregnancy moves along, Juno becomes friends with the couple and sees that their marriage isn't as strong as it looked. She deals with increasingly hostile stares from students at school and a suddenly awkward relationship with her good friend Paul Bleeker, who also happens to be the child's father. And she wonders if she'll ever have a "normal" romance of her own.
All of this could have turned into a weepy After-School Special, but writer Diablo Cody (winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar and a suburban native) avoids this trap by drawing fresh, funny, three-dimensional characters; even the supporting roles have depth. Director Jason Reitman hits the emotional beats in the story without veering into melodrama, and the cast rocks. Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Thirlby -- all of them shine in the movie, but it belongs to Best Actress nominee Ellen Page, who exhibits incredible range in the title role.
Does "Juno" paint too rosy a picture of teen pregnancy, as some have charged? Certainly, the film has none of the teeth-gnashing and finger-wagging that you might expect. But does every teen pregnancy story have to wallow in shame, misery and regret? "Juno" does take pregnancy seriously, and few films paint as respectful a portrait of parenthood as this one.
"Juno" arrives on a two-disc DVD with loads of bonus features, including a Reitman/Diablo commentary and deleted scenes. The two-disc set also includes a digital copy of the film you can download to your computer or iPod. "Juno" is also available in a single-disc edition, which has a shorter list of extras and does not include a digital copy. (PG-13; Fox, $29.98 or $34.98)
"War/Dance" -- A Best Documentary nominee at this year's Oscars, "War/Dance" is one of the most harrowing and uplifting movies I've ever seen. The film follows three children in northern Uganda, a region embroiled in a bloody civil war that began in the 1980s, as they try to win a trophy at their country's national music and dance festival. The children -- Dominick, Nancy and Rose -- live in a refugee camp, all of them touched by the horrific violence of the war. The one bright spot in their lives is the music program at the camp school. As they prepare for the national festival, each of them experiences precious moments of escape and victory, moments that give them a reason to hope. "War/Dance" is a fascinating documentary that will have you crying one moment and cheering the next. It looks and sounds good on DVD, but I wish there were more extras; all that's here is the trailer and some deleted/extended scenes. Still, the film itself is the main attraction, and it's one you're not likely to forget. (PG-13, THINKFilm, $27.98)
"Lars and the Real Girl" -- It sounds like the plot of a Judd Apatow film: An awkward, nerdy guy overcomes his loneliness by engaging in a public relationship with Bianca, a life-size sex doll. But "Lars and the Real Girl" isn't a raunchy sex comedy. It's a strange, thoughtful and surprisingly moving examination of love. Best Actor nominee Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a kind but disturbed man who seems to have lost the ability to connect with another human being. When he orders Bianca from the Internet and introduces her to everyone as his girlfriend, his stunned family, friends and co-workers decide to play along, hoping that his relationship with Bianca will bring him out of his shell. Director Craig Gillespie performs quite a high-wire act here, juggling realism and fantasy, humor and drama. Somehow, it all works. Gosling is superb as Lars, and Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and Kelli Garner deliver excellent supporting turns. Then there's Bianca, who delivers the best performance by an inanimate object since Wilson the volleyball stole scenes from Tom Hanks in "Cast Away." The DVD includes a deleted scene and two behind-the-scenes featurettes. (PG-13; MGM, $27.98)