Juno

This is the story of a precocious 16 year-old who gets pregnant accidentally and threads her way through giving the baby up for adoption and figuring out whether or not she loves her best friend, the baby’s father. It was written by a smart, funny, slightly too-cool-for-school former stripper (who danced so she could blog her way to a book deal, natch), and the script is peppered with quips and comebacks with real zing and sting. And it’s got a great cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney are all winning and real. Except maybe sometimes when their mots are a little too bon. But you will laugh. You might cry. You will enjoy.

This is the kind of movie I’d like to write, oh, about a dozen times. That would be a nice career. It’s funny and sweet and the characters actually care about each other (or don't, and that's real too). Most touchingly, the parents are written with the kind of witty compassion and humanism you wish you had gotten, or were capable of giving, whichever might currently apply.