Juno (2007)

A blithe charmer balanced somewhere between a life-should-be-so-neat fairy tale and a life's-a-real-bitch tragicomedy, leaves political debate at the ticket counter and focuses solely on what it's like for Juno MacGuff to be Juno MacGuff.

Juno respects the idiosyncrasies of its characters rather than exaggerating them or holding them up for ridicule.

There's a special kick that comes in finding a new star. So step up, Ellen Page, and take your bows.

Juno has a great heroine and is blessed by a screenplay that doesn't try to do too much and finds the perfect ending.

Cody's dialogue has a definite rhythm and Reitman directs his actors to deliver the words in the rapid-fire precision of a '30s screwball comedy. Indeed all scenes develop a rhythm and inner logic that bring the movie to often startling revelations and insights.