Writing a review of a film after it’s been nominated for Best Picture is like trying to explain to someone how ice cream will taste after a sweltering day of work.

“Juno”, however, is three scoops of goodness in a waffle cone. A spunky screenplay married to great acting and, get this, some good morals, manages to stay beautifully wrapped in the delicate taste of comedy. That’s a recipe that makes it a perfect contender for the Oscars.

Juno (Ellen Page), a Mid-Western high school teen, decides one day, out of complete boredom, to have sex with Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), a friend of hers who runs on the school’s track team.

She soon finds that evidence of the encounter isn’t easy to get rid of, as it results in her pregnancy. After seriously contemplating an abortion, Juno changes her mind in a heroic move, rationalizing that she is carrying a child who deserves to live with parents who love it.

With help from her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno searches for prospective adoptive parents in the area newspaper, finally finding a couple seemingly fit for her child.

I entered the theater expecting “Juno” to be a comedy about teenage pregnancy. I left having seen a culturally-relative and thought-provoking film more about marriage and love than anything else.

The turning point in the movie comes when Juno meets Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner), a woman who longs for a child to call her own. While Vanessa dwells on the upcoming baby, Mark takes almost a fatherly interest in Juno, developing a relationship neither ever experienced.

The film evokes intriguing questions while masterfully piecing together a complicated story in a style that subtly switches from comedy to drama.

It’s a story of misunderstanding on multiple levels. Screenwriter Dablo Cody, a former stripper, successfully penned a fragment of life growing up, and director Jason Reitman brought it to life in astonishing accuracy. Both have been nominated for Oscars as a result.

While the film deals with mature themes, and bears a PG-13 rating for sexual content and language (but no nudity), I strongly encourage students and parents to take the time to see “Juno” and discuss it. The offbeat originality allows for multiple moral issues to be seen in a different light than many Hollywood flicks allow.

Juno herself is far from a faultless person, which is evident in her character’s perfection at speaking and acting before thinking. The realism that crafts the 96-minute film enables viewers to understand that no one is without fault, and that love, in its true condition, is not fleeting but stays the course.

“Juno” is my favorite movie of the year so far for its touching moments, funny dialogue, sharp wit and skillful handling of important themes with heart.