‘Juno’ succeeds with smart script, lively dialogue

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In theaters

JUNO, directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody, 95 minutes, rated PG-13.

The new Jason Reitman movie, “Juno,” was written by Diablo Cody, real name Brook Busey-Hunt, a former professional stripper who left the pole for the ways of the pen.

That’s great news for mainstream audiences – her smart, engaging script is one of the year’s best, particularly in terms of dialogue, which is charged with wit, surprise and mischief – but perhaps not such good news for her former client base.

After seeing “Juno,” one suspects that Cody won’t be returning to the world of burlesque anytime soon. She is somebody who has stories to tell, with a natural gift to tell them, and there only are so many stories one can tell to an audience that only wants to pay for them $1 at a time.

“Juno” stars Ellen Page (“Hard Candy”) in a star-making performance as Juno MacGuff, a precocious, ultrahip, 16-year-old high school student who makes the decision that she’s going to put an end to her virginity and have sex with Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera of “Superbad”), a bright yet shy young man who favors his orange-flavored Tic Tacs and long-distance running almost as much as he favors Juno herself.

On a sad-looking, dilapidated chair, they have their moment, which initially appears unremarkable until two months and four days later, Juno realizes just how remarkable it really was. There isn’t a pregnancy test stick in town that she can’t turn positive, so the question now is how best to deal with her pregnancy?

Should she abort the child, or should she offer it up to parents who might come to love and nurture it, such as wealthy suburbanites Vanessa (Jennifer Grant) and Mark (Jason Bateman), who shimmer with initial promise? Though Juno is one cool kid, greasing over the complications as if there weren’t any at hand, she herself admits in a rare moment of weakness that she’s dealing “with things way beyond my maturity level.”

And that’s the thing about Juno. Though she’s armed with a sophistication way beyond her years, she’s still, at heart, just a child dealing with the burden of her own unborn child. Helping her through the highs, lows and dark humor she finds in the situation are her father and step-mother (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, superb), her best friend, Leah (Olivia Thirlby), and then, unexpectedly, Mark himself, who finds in Juno something of a soul mate, which complicates the movie considerably.

As Juno’s hormones rage and her belly balloons (“I’m a planet!”), her vulnerability begins to show in ways that takes the movie down a notch from the quirky humor it favors during its electric first half. As such, it becomes more human and real. This is critical to the film’s success because the film, which initially seems as if it might exist only to serve its splendid dialogue, comes to serve its characters, who resonate long after Reitman and Cody deliver their final twist.

Grade: A-

On DVD and Blu-ray

SUPERBAD, directed by Greg Mottola, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, 112 minutes, rated R.

If Greg Mottola’s “Superbad” feels like a Judd Apatow movie, there’s good reason.

The film was produced by Apatow (“Knocked Up,” “40-Year-Old Virgin”), whose influence runs throughout, from the ongoing punch of bawdy raunch that colors every corner of the production to the unexpected human touches that deepen what could have been just another forgettable romp through the cinematic cesspool.

The story hinges on three nebbish high school seniors invited to a party at which they agree to bring the alcohol. All of the alcohol. Though nerdy Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has scored a fake ID, the idea that these three teens offer to get the booze for scores of people proves the colossal mistake of their young lives.

The trouble with the ID is that it states that Fogell is 25 years old and that he apparently has just one name – McLovin. Let’s be clear here. There is nothing about this slight reed of a boy that suggests he’s anywhere near the age of 25, and there certainly is nothing about him that hints he ever could earn the name McLovin.

But that’s what the ID says and so, thrown for a loop, lifelong best friends Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) decide to follow through with their promise to get the hooch and thus everyone loaded.

The idea isn’t just that they’ll at last be accepted by a student body that has shunned them for years, but that they also might catch the eye of a pretty girl or two. And wouldn’t that be a sweet way to end their senior year? In spite of the film’s deluge of dirty dialogue and sight gags, tender notes are struck.

The film is less successful in its addition of screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as an unlikely couple of wayward cops. They have their moments, but they eventually wear out their welcome.

When you move beyond the film’s thin plot and the raunch, what you have in “Superbad” is a movie about a lifelong friendship at a crossroads.

Seth and Evan are two unpopular kids who grew up to become two unpopular individuals. They always promised they’d go to the same college together, but Evan recently has been accepted into Dartmouth and he’s going. As for Seth, who favors the occasional display of mock masturbation, he isn’t going to Dartmouth, which causes a rift between the two that leads to a drunken revelation best left for the surprise of the screen.

Grade: B+

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Akeelah and the Bee – B+

Because I Said So – C

Black Book – B+

Blades of Glory – B+

The Bourne Ultimatum – B+

Breach – B+

Bridge to Terabithia – B+

Casino Royale – A

Cast Away: Blu-ray – A-

Children of Men – A

The Condemned – D

Death Proof – B+

Deja Vu – C+

The Departed – A

Disturbia – B

Evan Almighty – C

Everyone’s Hero – C+

Evening – C+

Fail Safe – A-

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – D+

Flushed Away – B+

The Fountain – D

1408 – B

Fracture – C

Georgia Rule – D+

The Graduate – B+

Hairspray – A-

Happy Feet – A-

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: HD DVD, Blu-ray – B+

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: HD DVD, Blu-ray – B-

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: HD DVD, Blu-ray – A-

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: HD DVD, Blu-ray – C+

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: HD DVD, Blu-ray – B+

The Hills Have Eyes II – D

Hostel II – C-

The Illusionist – B+

Infamous – B+

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry – D

Invincible – B

Inside Man – B+

The Invisible – C-

Jackie Chan’s The Myth – C-

Knocked Up – A

Little Children – A-

Live Free or Die Hard – B-

The Lives of Others – A

Lucky You – C+

A Mighty Heart – A-

Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Blu-ray – B+

Music and Lyrics – B

The Nanny Diaries – D+

Next – D

Night at the Museum – C+

Notes on a Scandal – B+

The Number 23 – D

Pan’s Labyrinth – A

Premonition – C-

Pride & Prejudice: DVD, HD DVD – A

Ratatouille – A

The Reaping – D

Reign Over Me – C-

Rocky Balboa – B+

Shooter – C+

Shrek the Third: DVD, HD DVD – C

Sicko – A-

Superbad: DVD, BLU-RAY – B+

Surf’s Up – B+

TMNT – C

300 – C-

The Transformers – B+

28 Weeks Later – B

We Are Marshall – D