Last week my wife turned 30 and she sent me an email that she wanted to see a couple movies sooner than later. Her number one pick was Juno. I had heard wonderful things about this film, and every year around this time I begin seeing as many Oscar nominated movies as I can. So her email was a good excuse to get out and see Juno, which is up for best Director, Original Screenplay, Actress, etc… So there we went. Off to see Juno today. Last year I began writing movie reviews for everything I see during Oscar season, and that begins with a wonderfully scripted film that the critics believe is an anti-abortion film. And so what if it may be? That’s not the point here.

What is the point is a fantastic small budget film that has exploded onto the silver screen. Diablo Cody, as writer, has created a refreshingly invigorating script that I could almost chomp down into my corporeal self. The dialogue’s originality was unlike most of what I’ve read or heard in recent months. Cody has emerged everywhere in the last several months from the screen to the columnist at the back of "Entertainment Weekly" sitting next to my commode.

Initially the opening song irked me, and I felt like the soundtrack may be almost overpowering for such a subtle film. I will admit I never forgot what I was hearing when a song came on screen, but by the finale of the film my wife and I both completely adored the music. We’d never heard of the Moldy Peaches or Antsy Pants before, but they sure are joining my iTunes play list tonight.

Even though the film editing and quirky cinematography (from the muddy runny shoes of Micheal Cera’s Bleeker and striped socks of Ellen Page’s title character in the hospital bed to the shot of Page driving into suburbia as the camera climbs into the sky above her minivan) reminded me of my love for the mere perfect camera shots of films like American Beauty, Diablo Cody’s script dialogue was phenomenal. For example, Allison Janney, as Juno’s step mother, told the x-ray technician "My five year-old daughter could do that, and let me tell you, she is not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed. So why don’t you go back to night school in Manteno and learn a real trade!" Witty banter, obscure allusions, and thinking man’s dialgoue is what really turned me on to this film, although the metaphors and symbols kissed my eyes like a soft summer rain or a cool afternoon. SPOILER COMING. STOP NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW. Ok, I’ve warned you. For example, after Juno discovers Mark is leaving Vanessa, she speeds off to stop alongside the highway, and the shot (once again above the minivan) shows she pulled off the side of the highway next to a half destroyed boat next to a canal running along side the highway, deep like the womb of hope and eventuality, while on the other side of the highways trains run along tracks in one direction without any hope of every getting off that path. The runners push against Juno as she walks down the street in the beginning of the movie, and her boyfriend, Bleeker, is a runner, but by the film’s end, the track team runs by, and he is now sitting by her side on the steps playing the brilliantly written "Anyone Else But You" by the Moldy Peaches. Page & Cera’s singing of the theme song at the end just is another example of this young woman’s talents.

Which does bring me back to the Lorings. The first quarter of the movie seems relatively light and fun (yes, even when Juno tells her father and step mother she’s pregnant), and then she meets the Loring’s. I sat back just waiting for some soft of conflict and eventually got it. Mark, played by Jason Bateman (whose squashed nose bugs me), is a likable guy who reminds me of Neal Pollack, and his high tension wife played poorly by the very non-sterile Mrs Affleck, Jennifer Garner) is the kind of character you want to hate. In the end I realized that Mark Loring is a total noob, while the audience is suppose to commiserate with Vanessa’s sterility and subsequent motherhood. No, I didn’t.

This movie felt very real to me. Researching a bit online to write this review (yeah, do you really think I remembered Janney’s quote verbatim? Nah…) I was pleasantly surprised by how many awards Cody’s won so far for this film. With that in mind, and while I am still high on a fun-loving film, I would say the former stripper devil girl as a good chance of winning gold come February, albeit Page’s got some stiff competition; her nomination may be her award, but hopefully she doesn’t get pregnant (for real) and fall into obscurity like Keisha Castle-Hughes.