You can email me at: ryantgee_rtg@yahoo.com
2011.
2010.
2009.
Other.
Young Adult - Movie Review
Grade: B
Suffering from a misleading marketing campaign, Young Adult - the second collaboration between Juno director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody - is considerably more philosophical than its advertised raunchiness. But with that said, the true direction that this film takes results in a work that is surprisingly, a substantial character study led by a powerhouse acting force. While the surface of the film will likely disappoint the mainstream audience it was marketed for, this comedy drama offers a reflective piece about life’s complexity that not even Juno or even Up In The Air (Reitman’s previous film) can match.
Diablo Cody’s screenplay plays on the cliche that “grass is always greener on the other side.” Originally from the rural roots of Mercury, Minnesota - ”hick lake town” as it is referred to by - 37-year-old writer Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is living the life that many of her former classmates wish to have. Writing young adult (note the double entendre) novels in the studio apartment of her urban city, the former “popular high school queen” Mavis has everything anyone could hope for - except a sense of maturity. Tired of living her lonely life consisting of hopeless one night stands and countless episodes of Keeping Up With Kardashians, Mavis revisits Mercury to revisit her glory days and most importantly, reclaim her married high school sweetheart. Realizing the difficulty of her endeavor, Mavis forms a sweet albeit bizzare friendship with a former classmate Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) and ends up question whether her life, in all actuality, is better than the lives of the “hicks” she left behind.
Shockingly, Young Adult - even with its bubble gum soundtrack (scarcely used by the way) and potentially humorous premise - is even more raw and dark-themed than Cody’s and Reitman’s previous effort in Juno. The film does not lavish in itself in style (although Theron’s multiple make-up montages are cinematically superb) or excessive debauchery, but it explores an individual who has not surpassed the
border of adolescent thinking. Mavis’s character is a film that refuses to change her immature way of thinking, and the audience is there to determine whether she is Cody’s protagonist or antagonist. Of course, the writing is occasionally witty and ridiculously funny, but it’s presented as the backdrop of this truly dramatic film.
Reitman’s film does not simply reach its emotional marks through the means of Cody’s writing, but the aspect that makes the film, are the performances by Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt. The Oscar bombshell not only delivers her lines with such precise “bitchiness,” she sells the character, making the audience believe that they know some one of this manner. Supported by Oswalt, the relationship Mavis has with his character provides some unusual comedy, as well as serving the antithesis of Theron’s urban “stuck-up” character. The film boasts some great chemistry in one of the year’s best acting duos.
Young Adult is sure to frustrate those looking for a comedic film; but with that said, did you really expect humorous naughtiness from the usually subtle Jason Reitman? Overall, the film is a dark contemporary piece in guise of an adult comedy, questioning the marketing approach to this film. With that said, Young Adult is an occasionally funny film that is light on the laughs, but is thoroughly a complex study of the adolescence we choose to keep or leave behind. Grade: B
