Juno
Sure, you could think four stars a bit much for this comedy about what happens when 16-year-old Juno MacGuff learns she’s pregnant by boyfriend Paulie Bleeker. But that’s one star for director Jason Reitman, who brings a loving and deft sense of timing to the movie. One star for screenwriter Diablo Cody, whose debut heralds a major talent. One star for Ellen Page. The Canadian’s snap-crackle- stop-on-a-dime embodiment of our precocious hero is the breakout performance of the year. And that last star? It’s for a pitch-perfect ensemble that includes J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney as Juno’s folks, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner as the adoptive-parents-to-be and Michael Cera as the excruciatingly dear boy who done the deed. PG-13. 1 hour, 31 minutes. Released today.Lisa Kennedy
Lars and the Real Girl
She’s a different kind of mail-order bride. For one thing, she actually arrives in a box, via UPS. And there’s no language barrier, because she can’t speak. But she is “anatomically correct.” And Lars (Ryan Gosling), the small-town sad sack who’s shacking up in his brother and sister-in-law’s garage, proceeds to fall for this life-sized sex toy. If relationships are all about projecting your ideals and fantasies onto someone else, then maybe spending your days with a plastic love doll isn’t as weird as it seems. But dressed up as a quirky deadpan indie with a gently comic tone, “Lars and the Real Girl” becomes increasingly precious. Taking a profoundly wounded soul and watching him heal is a worthy idea. But the central gimmick of the film remains a gimmick — as genuine emotion gives way to shaggy-dog shtick. PG-13. 1 hour, 46 minutes. Released today. Steven Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“War/Dance”
The Uganda-set film goes for all kinds of lovely, “Out of Africa”-style visuals and snazzy editing effects. When their main subjects — adolescents who have either seen their relatives killed or been forced to commit murder themselves by the insane Lord’s Resistance Army rebel movement — describe their trauma, they sometimes sound a little too rehearsed (or not enough), even in their tribal language. “War/Dance” finds an excellent balance between dark and light. PG-13. 1 hour, 45 minutes. Released today. Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
