In recent weeks, Television viewers have been unable to escape a certain advertisement for a film. Maybe you know the one: Two stars clutch each other while a voice-over teases the impossible stakes of their improbable romance and Rihanna's tender "Stay" plays. The camera watches the astonishingly sensual forging of a peach pie from scratch. Then the trailer closes with a release date and six words: "Kate Winslet. Josh Brolin. Labor Day."
But the four most unexpected words about the movie--"Directed by Jason Reitman"--appear nowhere. Reitman, the 36-year-old director of four beloved, street-smart dark comedies (Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up...