You're such a good friend, I have to break your heart. (Late review of Juno)

You have to face it people. I'm hip and cool and always have tickets to the hottest shows in town or the advance screenings of the newest movies.

Really, this is just my hopeless insecurity and desire to be liked that sends me on my endless quest for things like passes to Juno weeks before its Chicago opening.(I saw this on December 4th, people.)

Since Jason Reitman's last feature, Thank You for Smoking, was such a breath of fresh (cough, cough) air, I was genuinely looking forward to this movie when I scored the passes online back in early November, but there had also been enough annoying bits in the previews, that I had some reservations. I don't generally care for Jennifer Garner, and Ellen Page is a little too perky. The quirky soundtrack sounded a little too contrived.

In the end, everything worked anyway, and I found myself laughing more than I have at anything in the theater in a good long time. I also found myself smiling a lot. But, I was also annoyed by Juno's confidence and pretentiousness. But then I remembered, she's 16. At 16, weren't we all a little bit like that? We covered up our insecurities with music or fashion that we thought marked us as different and cool? (Like chewing on a pipe, or listening to a lot ofSo I don't blame her for being annoying, I blame her age.

Each character had some admirable qualities - hmmm... except maybe Jennifer Garner's character. I can't even remember her name right now. I thought she was pretty irritating, and I won't spoil it for you, but the way it ends for her makes a lot of sense. I think that's the only way it could end for her.

I waited too long to write this, and I haven't been able to organize my thoughts very well lately anyway, so I think I'll sum it up with this. It's got some good animation, narration, and scoring. Some enjoyable characters. It's not extremely predictable - there are some elements of surprise. It's damn funny, and you know what? I think I'd see it again. I might actually see it again in the theater. This is rare for me to leave a movie feeling that good.

Some of that might have had to do with the friends I was with, the beautiful snowstorm that found when we left the theater, or the fact that I was on a mental high from a really good conversation I'd had that afternoon, but that good feeling lasted for three or four days, and I would like to think that the Juno had something to do with it.

Sidenote: In doing a little research, I learn that Jason Reitman is A) younger than I and B) the son of Ivan Reitman, who brought Meatballs and Ghostbusters. Meatballs is, FYI, one of my all-time favorites - so apparently this genius runs in the Reitman blood. But then we will need to expect Jason to make some turkeys, too, because his dad sure did.