DVDs of the week

Juno MacGuff is one of those teenagers who don't really exist but we'd all love to have been: laid-back, confident, quick-witted and awesomely articulate. All's rumbling along nicely in Juno's quirky teensville world until she discovers she's pregnant – or, forshizz up the spout' – by her sweet-but-feeble mate Paulie Bleeker (Michael Superbad' Cera), who has a thing about bright gold shorts and Tic Tacs. The movie's only, but important, bum note follows shortly after, in Juno's glibly handled decision not to have an abortion. But it soon turns into one of the coolest films of the year as Juno and co chart the choppy waters of adoption: the supporting cast delivers brilliantly, as does unnervingly natural 20-year-old Ellen Page, who gets Juno's affectations and vulnerabilities pitch-perfect. Only one thing upstages her and that's the spritely, Oscar-winning, debut script from blogger Diablo Cody. It cheerfully bobs about like a baby in a bouncer, full of youthful slang and internet speak, steering us to an unpredictable but thoroughly heart-warming conclusion. As Juno would say: Totally boss.

Extras: Commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reel, screen tests, interviews and more.
Sharon Lougher

Cloverfield
Paramount Home Entertainment, 15, £19.99
****
The big thing' about JJ Abrams's enigmatically titled monster movie was the tease: the drip of internet hints; the frenzy-inducing trailer. So you'd expect the experience of re-watching it on DVD would feel flatter than a sofa after a monster tea party. But not a bit of it. Abrams's genius idea – to angle the highly credible city-under-attack hysteria of his no-star movie entirely from the clueless bystander's viewpoint – is perfect for the small screen. Basically, it's a YouTube Godzilla. True, when you're not strapped into a cinema seat, the blind, uncomprehending what would you do?' panic of what's essentially a terrorist attack in a lizard suit is somewhat less riveting but it's still a rocking, rollercoaster-on-fast-forward blockbuster with a considered political subtext. If the original 1954 Japanese Godzilla represented the H-Bomb, the 9/11 symbolism here is more in yer face than the rampaging CGI beastie itself.

Extras: Director commentary, Clover~ eld Supplemental Files.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

The Kite Runner
Paramount Home Entertainment, 12, £19.99
***
This film adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's book-club favourite is not as profound as it tries to make out but its beautiful cinematography and some excellent acting go a long way towards saving it. Childhood friends Amir (the weak son of a wealthy man) and Hassan (the loyal servant's boy) grow up in vibrant 1970s Kabul, watching the Magni~ cent Seven and triumphing in kite-flying competitions. But when bullies beat and rape Hassan, Amir just runs away: their friendship is poisoned and Amir's guilt leads him to heap more wrongs on his friend.

Safely ensconced in America (having fled the Soviet invasion, grown up, married and become a novelist), Amir receives a telephone call that pulls him back to a ravaged, Taliban-controlled Kabul, to (rather neatly) atone for his childhood sin. There are big themes and emotions here but, annoyingly, they're dealt with super~ cially by director Marc Forster. However, the principal actors – especially the boys playing the young Amir and Hassan – give strong, nuanced, thrillingly watchable performances.

Extras: Two featurettes and a public service announcement with Khaled Hosseini. Siobhan Murphy

The Good Night
Momentum, 15, £17.99
*
Gary (Martin Freeman) is a washed-up Britpop star living in New York, who writes TV ad jingles but harbours loftier musical ambitions. His malaise is compounded by nagging girlfriend Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow) and he soon finds himself becoming obsessed with his, literal, dream woman (Penélope Cruz). The Good Night has a slight premise – and it's not helped by Jake Paltrow's plodding direction and portentous script. So little happens it feels much longer than its 90 minutes and Cruz is wasted as Freeman's mute fantasy object, wafting around what looks like an episode of Grand Designs. Simon Pegg relishes playing a cad rather than his usual hapless everyman, but having him yell at his estranged girlfriend: I'm going to rape you' – a supposed comic moment – shows the calibre of Paltrow's script. This dismal effort has a better cast than it deserves – and the director only has his sister to thank for that.

Extras: None.
Andrew Williams

The Inbetweeners
4DVD, 18, £19.99
***
Teenage angst, you've got to laugh. That's the starting point for E4's sitcom The Inbetweeners, a comedy that casts a cheeky eye over the growing pains of four schoolboys struggling to make sense of life, the universe and girls – well, mostly girls. From geeky new boy Will (Simon Bird) to pottymouthed Jay (James Buckley), The Inbetweeners are thrashing away at the bottom of their local gene pool, sunk by unrequited crushes and gauche dating disasters which conspire to keep their virgin status achingly intact. Hard as it tries to put a modern spin on drippy lads struggling to get their ends away, at heart The Inbetweeners is old-school comedy, with writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris knocking off set-ups from Carry On movies and Please Sir! Despite the odd gross-out lapse, this is no bad thing. And thanks to some winning performances, notably from Joe Thomas as eager-to-please Simon, you end up willing the boys on to a warm and fuzzy happy ending.

Extras: Cast video diaries, making-of doc, audio commentary, deleted scenes.
Keith Watson