JUNO

HOLLYWOOD'S Woman of the Year is a pregnant 16-year-old, the incredibly hip, smart-mouthed and totally endearing heroine of the wise and witty “Juno."

Readers of my blog know I've been smitten with “Juno" - a sort of female “Knocked Up" without that film's contrivance and casual sexism - since I first laid eyes on it back in September.

Watching it twice more in the past week, I'm even more bowled over by Ellen Page's pitch-perfect performance as the eponymous heroine, the hilarious but knowing and big-hearted script by newcomer Diablo Cody - and the sure-footed direction by Jason Reitman.

For maximum enjoyment, you should probably stop reading now and get in line at the nearest theater showing “Juno."

Like the 20-year-old Canadian actress who plays her - Ellen Page, who took on a pedophile in the little-seen “Hard Candy" - Juno MacGuff is a tiny force of nature, a hipster who seemingly has a ready wisecrack for every occasion that might arise in her small Minnesota town.

But as anyone who has spent much time around teenage girls knows, her bravura masks deeper emotions.

They're emotions that Juno can't always hide after she accidentally becomes pregnant following an evening of experimentation she initiates with her not-quite-boyfriend Paulie (the remarkable Michael Cera).

“He's good in chair," Juno quips of their non-horizontal liaison.

She can't joke off the unintended consequences, especially when she decides to carry the child to term and give it away to a yuppie couple she finds through an ad in a pennysaver.

In synopsis, “Juno" sounds much like a typical teenage movie, but it totally transcends the genre in many ways.

For starters, there's Juno's complex relationship with the adoptive parents, which plays out in surprising ways.