Juno is a very important film for several reasons, most of all for its legacy. A quaint and charming independent comedy in its own right, it worked alongside Little Miss Sunshine to inspire over a decade of imitators, films that embrace their independent spirit and more twee nature and exploit them in conjunction with the more serious subject matter. It’s a model of storytelling that may be seen as unfortunate from today’s perspective when audiences yearn for something with a bit more substance, but to ignore the groundbreaking nature of a film like Juno is misguided, especially when you consider how, despite the hindsight we tend to view this film with, its a remarkably endearing piece that takes the intrepid risk of daring to be different in a time when mainstream comedy tended to reinforce the idea of broad humour governing the story more than the eccentricities that were always seen as restricted to more alternative forms of comedy. Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody work in symbiosis to create the story by taking advantage of many of the niche components that defined this sub-genre, and successfully put together an endearing film that proudly proclaims both its fierce defiance to expectations and its full intention to be an entirely different kind of comedy, one that is more unique and heartwarming than anything produced by its more popular studio-based counterparts. Heartwarming and absolutely perfect in both tone and intention, Juno rises above its relatively straightforward subject matter to be original and charming in innumerable ways.

Centred around the precocious, 16-year-old Juno (Ellen Page), who is a self-proclaimed “weird girl”, whose interests are not typical of someone of her age or background, finds herself pregnant after what she claims to be an evening of boredom, when she engaged in a brief, meaningless affair with her friend, Bleeker (Michael Cera). Now faced with the realization that she is going to have a baby (after choosing against an abortion), Juno has to find a solution – at her young age, she’s not ready to be a mother, a fact that is only bolstered by her clear ineptitude to function as an ordinary person, with her rebellious nature making her the most distant candidate for prospective mothers. She decides that she’s going to give the baby up for adoption, and encounters a wealthy suburban couple, consisting of stay-at-home musician Mark (Jason Bateman), and his wife Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), who yearns to have a child of their own, but have their own fertility problems. The eccentric Juno enters into their lives and causes the best kind of chaos, bringing joy and exuberance to a household that is clearly not entirely equipped for the challenges a child will bring. Along the way, Juno looks inward and learns many difficult lessons that she had not known would be so vital to her growth. She discovers that her belief in complete independence may have set her apart from her peers, but puts her in a vulnerable position, from which she desperately needs to find a way to grow, accepting her faults and forging a way forward.

Looking at Juno from a contemporary perspective is a challenging endeavour since so much of what makes this film such a revered piece is how its legacy has not only positioned it as something of a folkloric entry into a genre that it helped revitalize but also the sheer number of imitators it’s inspired over the years. Yet, if we set aside the cultural context that forms such a pivotal part of the discourse surrounding the film since its release, and rather focus on the film itself, it’s not difficult to see why it was so revolutionary. Breaking it down into a set of core individuals, Juno was bound to be something special – Jason Reitman started his career with a series of very promising works, which seemed to imply that he’d be distancing himself from his beloved father’s brand of more outrageous comedy in favour of more subversive films that look at more serious matters without necessarily abandoning the humour. Diablo Cody was an up-and-coming writer who managed to catch lightning in a bottle with her first screenplay, and in their collaboration, Cody and Reitman put together a highly original film that may not have taken a particularly unique approach to the premise but compensated with a blend of good-natured visual flair and brilliant dialogue that created a truly unforgettable glimpse into the human condition, carefully curated by two individuals who adhered to the daunting prospect of launching a film that had the potential to be either controversial or entirely forgotten into the ether, and through their laborious efforts to bring Juno to the screen, they found themselves forging one of the most influential teen comedies of its era, one that found itself caught between different eras of the genre.

Moreover, the script of Juno is promising enough to stand as a great work on its own, but it’s very clear that what makes this film so successful is the cast, who bring this story to life and infuse it with the energy and pathos it required to be convincing. Ellen Page does very well with the archetypal teen rebel who is yearning to break out from any preconceived notions of what she should be or represent. This is a star-making turn that very few performers get the chance to make their own, and while her subsequent choices have been far from ideal, Page commands the screen with a feisty sincerity that only slightly conceals the more vulnerable side to the character. Her performance is contrasted with the supporting cast, nearly all of which have moments of unrestrained brilliance. Jennifer Garner gives her best performance to date as the prospective adoptive mother who is anxiously waiting to become a mother, a dream she has had for as long as she can remember, and Jason Bateman is at his most likeable as her husband who begins to question whether or not he’s ready to make such a big commitment to fatherhood. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, who have now risen to become stars in their own right, were still undervalued but beloved character actors at this point, and in the capacity of playing the titular character’s father and stepmother respectively, they’re hilarious and heartwarming. Among the newcomers, Michael Cera is surprisingly complex, even if this performance is the root of his streak of playing the same socially-awkward character he built his career on, and Olivia Thirlby is a riot as the titular character’s supportive best friend. The cast of Juno makes it a special film and elevates the sometimes twee material into the territory of something very close to a true comedy classic.

Ultimately, Juno is a film that navigates a difficult narrative and thematic boundary – it knows its limits, and never tries to exceed them in a way that could be considered gaudy or overstepping the mark. However, there’s a burning ambition below this film that makes it such a terrific piece. One of the finest coming-of-age comedies of its era, Juno is an intrepid story about resilience and resistance, told by a cast and crew of dedicated individuals, all committed to bringing this touching story to life. There’s a remarkable depth underpinning the film, one that flourishes extraordinarily well when we realize that this is not just a film about a teenage girl fighting the system – its a touching story of family, friendship and inner-peace, carefully put together by a screenwriter whose unheralded belief in this premise makes it such an extraordinarily worthwhile endeavour. Reitman, for all his faults in recent years, made something very special with Juno, a film with an enormous heart and an even bigger sense of humour, filled with the most gracious kind of socially-resonant comedy that makes it such a poignant, heartwarming piece. It’s not difficult to see why Juno is such an influential film – from the incredible performances to the witty dialogue and the overall thematic content, this is a terrific piece of fiction, one that is grounded in reality, but flourishes when it’s operating from an oddly ethereal space. Juno earns its reputation as a great comedy and an even better piece of independent filmmaking, with its charm and buoyancy qualifying it as one of the most touching coming-of-age comedies ever put on screen.