YOUNG ADULT (R)
BY JAKE MATHISON
December 18th, 2011
Starring: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Diablo Cody
Young Adult is a wickedly delicious film. It's a perverse, brutally honest depiction of the mundane and unfulfilled lives we lead. And because of that, it's beautiful.
Charlize Theron's (Monster) Mavis Gary is a refreshingly loathsome character. As the ghost-writer of a series of popular YA (young adult) fiction novels, she has achieved a modicum of success, but under somebody else's name. And even though she's clearly a bright and talented individual, she's also a selfish, neurotic and paranoid narcissist, and seemingly always has been. Recently, she appears to have added depressed, alcoholic divorcee to that list.
When an old flame, played by Patrick Wilson (Watchmen), sends her an e-mail regarding the birth of his child, she obsessively sets off to win him back, ending up on an unavoidable collision course with her small Minnesota hometown and the people she's desperately tried to leave behind.
For many, Young Adult will be a hard film to stomach. It's comprised almost entirely of wholly unlikable, extremely complex characters. And it's going to hit close to home for anybody who grew up or still lives in a small town in middle America. But the film does a good job of spreading its blame equally, and it spends a great deal of time tackling the juxtaposition between the various levels of the unfulfillment spectrum.
Theron is pretty spectacular here. She's everything Diablo Cody's (Juno) script asks her to be and more, spewing electric dialogue and effortlessly painting a portrait of Mavis's often schizophrenic turns between loneliness and scathing condescension. And Patton Oswalt (Big Fan) is surprisingly good as a former classmate whose broken physical state mirrors Mavis's broken emotional state.
Although Cody's post-Juno work has been a mixed bag, in reuniting with director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) she appears to have recaptured a little bit of her former magic, and together they have sculpted something bold, genuine and definitely worth investigating.
In a way, Young Adult is like a brawl between two opposing forces that hold nothing but contempt for one another. And it's fascinating to see that play out. But don't go into it expecting Cody's warmer, more charming fare, because other than a writer's credit, it has little in common with Juno. However, if you appreciate darker, more divisive themes, you're in for a real treat.
4/5 stars
Young Adult is rated R for language and some sexual content
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