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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.
