Young Adult (B or 3/4 stars)
It's hard to make an indie film pass as a mainstream movie with a lead character as icky as Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) in 'Young Adult' ... but director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air) & writer Diablo Cody (Juno), are able to do it. There have been tons of films about Queen b*tches from high school, but this one goes to show how miserable & self-loathing they can be nearly 20 yrs. after the glory days are long gone.
Mavis may be gorgeous, but in the 1st 10 minutes of the film, we see some of her more unsavory behaviors. They include keeping her condo as a pigpen, sleeping around, perpetually drunk on bourbon, passing out in her clothes, chugging diet coke upon waking up, keeping her TV fixated on the Kardashians, picking at her scalp, dressing slovenly, & struggling to complete her final episode of an unpopular series of 'young adult' novels. Plainly put, she's a shallow, self-absorbed wreck. Divorced, Mavis decides one morning to return to her backwoods town of Mercury, Minnesota for one reason: to recapture the love of her high school boyfriend, jock Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). The catalyst for her return is that she received an email from Buddy's wife (Elizabeth Reaser) that they just had a baby.
Horrified, Mavis heads home to snatch up Buddy & 'save' him from what she thinks is a miserable domestic existence in the beige community that she ran from yrs. ago. To Mavis, Buddy should have married her, & the baby shower could have been hers. While in town, she enlists an old high school classmate, Matt (Patton Oswalt), as both her drinking buddy & confidante. Matt, who is disabled as a result of an ugly bullying incident from school, is as anxious to forget his teen yrs. as Mavis is desperate to re-live them. He knows what Mavis is up to & tries to dissuade her from making a fool of her delusional self in front of the settled, contented Buddy. But whether or not Mavis can learn from Matt or the error of her ways is the question.
My knee-jerk reaction to 'Young Adult' is: fantastic acting, hit-&-miss script. Though it's interesting to watch a film where we have fun loathing a lead character, the actual 'story' is fairly unoriginal. But as mentioned, the acting totally saves it. Many people will strongly dislike Mavis, but that's a testament to Charlize Theron's biting, naturalistic performance. Right off the bat, through silent actions, we see the kind of person she is (it's someone we ALL know in our own lives, I'm sure). And though it seems as if she has learned nothing by the end of the film, Theron is still able to imbue a smidge of empathy for Mavis. See, Mavis is a stunted person; still looking at her life with rose-colored glasses of her nostalgic past.
My favorite scene is when Mavis observes Buddy as he lovingly gazes at his wife while she performs a certain song in a pool hall. Without saying a word, Theron conveys with her tear-filled eyes the rage, venom, & sadness of what she's seeing/feeling. And Patton Oswalt is a very necessary component to the film because while Mavis is a monster (of sorts) & Buddy is the object of her affection, Oswalt's Matt is the only character that we can identify with. He's human, flawed, insightful, acerbic, funny, & self-deprecating. He's the only one who speaks the truth to Mavis. But she's too deluded & drunk to let it sink in. In fact, her alcoholism explains a lot. She's a sociopath ... but without the context of her constant haze of drunkenness, Mavis would simply be considered insane.
Though it may turn-off mainstream audiences, the bitter, pessimistic ending of 'YA' is a daring one. There's no corny rehab for Mavis. She has a pathological inability to let go of the past -- she's just a frig-up. What holds me back from loving this movie is my beef with the script. I mean, I was entranced during the film; mesmerized & humored by watching the train wreck unfold. I liked Diablo Cody's dialogue. But I found the actual story to be lacking (given the arc Mavis was headed towards). Still, for better or worse, 'Young Adult' is one of the more memorable films of the year; thanks to Theron's masterful portrayal.
Mavis may be gorgeous, but in the 1st 10 minutes of the film, we see some of her more unsavory behaviors. They include keeping her condo as a pigpen, sleeping around, perpetually drunk on bourbon, passing out in her clothes, chugging diet coke upon waking up, keeping her TV fixated on the Kardashians, picking at her scalp, dressing slovenly, & struggling to complete her final episode of an unpopular series of 'young adult' novels. Plainly put, she's a shallow, self-absorbed wreck. Divorced, Mavis decides one morning to return to her backwoods town of Mercury, Minnesota for one reason: to recapture the love of her high school boyfriend, jock Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). The catalyst for her return is that she received an email from Buddy's wife (Elizabeth Reaser) that they just had a baby.
Horrified, Mavis heads home to snatch up Buddy & 'save' him from what she thinks is a miserable domestic existence in the beige community that she ran from yrs. ago. To Mavis, Buddy should have married her, & the baby shower could have been hers. While in town, she enlists an old high school classmate, Matt (Patton Oswalt), as both her drinking buddy & confidante. Matt, who is disabled as a result of an ugly bullying incident from school, is as anxious to forget his teen yrs. as Mavis is desperate to re-live them. He knows what Mavis is up to & tries to dissuade her from making a fool of her delusional self in front of the settled, contented Buddy. But whether or not Mavis can learn from Matt or the error of her ways is the question.
My knee-jerk reaction to 'Young Adult' is: fantastic acting, hit-&-miss script. Though it's interesting to watch a film where we have fun loathing a lead character, the actual 'story' is fairly unoriginal. But as mentioned, the acting totally saves it. Many people will strongly dislike Mavis, but that's a testament to Charlize Theron's biting, naturalistic performance. Right off the bat, through silent actions, we see the kind of person she is (it's someone we ALL know in our own lives, I'm sure). And though it seems as if she has learned nothing by the end of the film, Theron is still able to imbue a smidge of empathy for Mavis. See, Mavis is a stunted person; still looking at her life with rose-colored glasses of her nostalgic past.
My favorite scene is when Mavis observes Buddy as he lovingly gazes at his wife while she performs a certain song in a pool hall. Without saying a word, Theron conveys with her tear-filled eyes the rage, venom, & sadness of what she's seeing/feeling. And Patton Oswalt is a very necessary component to the film because while Mavis is a monster (of sorts) & Buddy is the object of her affection, Oswalt's Matt is the only character that we can identify with. He's human, flawed, insightful, acerbic, funny, & self-deprecating. He's the only one who speaks the truth to Mavis. But she's too deluded & drunk to let it sink in. In fact, her alcoholism explains a lot. She's a sociopath ... but without the context of her constant haze of drunkenness, Mavis would simply be considered insane.
Though it may turn-off mainstream audiences, the bitter, pessimistic ending of 'YA' is a daring one. There's no corny rehab for Mavis. She has a pathological inability to let go of the past -- she's just a frig-up. What holds me back from loving this movie is my beef with the script. I mean, I was entranced during the film; mesmerized & humored by watching the train wreck unfold. I liked Diablo Cody's dialogue. But I found the actual story to be lacking (given the arc Mavis was headed towards). Still, for better or worse, 'Young Adult' is one of the more memorable films of the year; thanks to Theron's masterful portrayal.