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2 1/2 stars (out of four)

The genius of “Juno,” the mainstream heroine of the moment, is its title character’s embodiment of Insider and Outsider. She’s the coolest, quippiest rebel around, a paragon of dork-chic, as well as a model of emotional stability—all the more remarkable, or improbable, depending on your hackles, given her situation.

Compared to Juno MacGuff, Penelope Wilhern is practically mute, but they’re half-sisters under the skin. Christina Ricci, who never seems to have lost that superhuman saucer-eyed cool she brought to the “Addams Family” movies, plays an heiress with the nose of a pig and a yen to break out of her cloistered existence. According to the  script  by Leslie Caveny, a  witch’s curse on the Wilhern family has given young Penelope a snout. Years later her parents, played by Catherine O’Hara and Richard E. Grant, arrange for their daughter to meet a series of potential husbands, all of whom run screaming when confronted with the unexpected frightful pig-nose.

James McAvoy of “Atonement” plays a louche gambler trying to ingratiate himself with Penelope so he can snap surreptitious photos for his tabloid journalist puppet-master, played by Peter Dinklage. Eventually Penelope braves the outside world and, her face half-hidden behind a scarf, she meets her first true friend, a Vespa-riding delivery woman played by executive producer Reese Witherspoon. When Witherspoon buys a beer “for my pal Scarfy here,” it’s one of the genuine laughs of the picture.

Not that the other laughs are ungenuine, but “Penelope” never works up much comic steam. Visually, it sure  tries: Everything in first-time director Mark Palansky’s picture is outsized, hyperbolic, Tim Burton-y. Yet we never fully buy into this alternate universe. (The picture was shot in London, with a half-North American, half-U.K.  cast.) Since its premiere 18 months ago at the Toronto International Film Festival, “Penelope” has been trimmed by 10 minutes or so  and   finally made it to market. I wish it were truly special instead of an interesting near-miss, pleasant but never imparting the thrill of watching an ugly-duckling Rapunzel let down her hair, discover herself and bring the world along with her.

mjphillips@tribune.com

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