Young Adult Review

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Year: 2011
Rating: R
Runtime: 1HR 34 MIN

Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, and Elizabeth Reaser

It’s been a short career filled with high peaks and low valleys for young Diablo Cody.  In 2007 she smashed onto the Hollwood scene by writing Juno which was released to much critical and financial success.  Two years later her follow up film Jennifer’s Body was met with critical disdain and empty theaters.  Now Cody is back with her third screenplay, has re-teamed with Juno director Jason Reitman to release Young Adult starring Charlize Theron which challenges the Hollywood norm of making a “rom-com” with a completely unlikable central character.

Charlize Theron stars as Mavis, a divorced alcoholic ghost writer of a “young adult” novel series.  As Mavis starts her sad work routine she checks her email and is disturbed to find out that her old high school boyfriend Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) and his wife have recently had a baby.  That news coupled with the stress of an impending book deadline causes her to make a brash decision to leave Minneapolis and head back to her home town and “liberate” him from his unhappy marriage.  Her adventure back home leads her across an old acquaintance from high school in the form of Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) who is a partially crippled man boy nerd.  Matt learns of Mavis’ crazy plan and tries to persuade her out of being a home-wrecking bitch but her mind is made up and she embarks on an ever more desperate quest to help Buddy realize what a mistake he’s made and that he’d be much happier running away with her.

If I had to sum up Young Adult with one word it would be “Awkward.”  There are a lot moments where I whispered to myself “Oh god, please don’t say that” and sure enough she’d say it and then make it even worse by continuing to talk but it’s often times very funny.  Simply put it’s been a long time since I squirmed in my seat from sheer awkwardness more than I did during Young Adult.  Mavis is incredibly self centered and is completely oblivious to the feelings of those around her which causes her to make an amusing ass of herself repeatedly.  What really sets Young Adult apart from a lot of other comedies, even some of the more mean spirited ones, is how completely unlikable and remorseless its main character is.  Mavis doesn’t comprehend that other people have feelings, that the world doesn’t revolve around her, and certainly doesn’t think what’s she doing is wrong.  She is persistent but what starts off as a seemingly harmless yet awkward meeting with Buddy quickly turns into a very creepy obsession.  There was actually a moment in the film where I was worried that Young Adult was going to take a strange and unexpected turn similar to what happened in The Beaver.  That fear was unfounded however and it never gets that strange. It’s still very uncomfortable but like I said earlier still really funny.

Young Adult features an extremely small but effective cast with only four major characters.  Charlize Theron is really impressive in a role that casts her in a very unattractive light.  Her portrayal of Mavis isn’t unattractive in a physical way like in Monster because she looks as good as ever but her personality is a complete mess.  Her performance is nothing short of spectacular; she’ll make you laugh out loud, squirm in your seat, and you might even want to give her a cautious hug right after you slap the shit out of her.  I hate to say clichéd things like “She gave a very brave performance” but in this instance it’s true, she gave an unapologetic performance that might ring true for more people than they’d like to admit.  Mavis’ romantic interest Buddy Slade is played by journeyman Patrick Wilson.  He’s played a little bit of everything in recent years from child molesters to superheroes and even a father of a possessed demon child.  I would categorize his performance as spectacular but only because his role is of a somewhat boring every-man.  Buddy is the opposite of Mavis; he is happy being a small town family man and seems overall to be very content with his life whereas Mavis is experiencing a slight break from reality.  Wilson isn’t given a lot of depth, he plays his part well but Young Adult isn’t about him, he’s just the object of a deranged women’s affection.  If there’s even the possibility of one person eclipsing Charlize Theron’s near perfect performance it’s Patton Oswalt.  I’ve felt for a long time that Oswalt is a underrated actor, he’s so well known for his comedic works that I don’t think he’s given the proper amount of respect for the dramatic work he’s capable of.  Part of that stems from the amount of truth I see in his dramatic performances where the real Oswalt is just beneath the surface. Like with Theron’s Mavis character, there’s no glamour involved; the Matt Freehauf role is very sad, you can imagine knowing someone like this man and how hard it must be to walk in his shoes.  What makes Oswalt’s portrayal that much better is his ability to take you along the entire emotional spectrum, you might find yourself choking back a single tear from either sadness or from laughter and that’s a great accomplishment considering his screen time is limited.  As much as I loved Charlize Theron’s brilliantly unapologetic humor the best surprise came in the form of Patton Oswalt’s performance which balanced Young Adult with his heartfelt brand of self-deprecating humor.

I still haven’t made up my mind on what I think of writer Diablo Cody or director Jason Reitman.  I never jumped on the Juno bandwagon, I thought the film was OK but I never saw any need to see the film again after my initial viewing.  Jennifer’s Body on the other hand I thought was a blast, I enjoyed the high school satire a lot more and just never felt like audience or critics got the joke which I for one thought was damn funny.  The film still carries over the distinct Diablo Cody writing style that her previous works have showcased.  The dialogue still feels like something out of an R-rated Gilmore Girls episode complete with the 80s/90s retro feel to it which is one of the stylistic choices people either lover or hate with little room in between.  Young Adult might be Cody’s crossover from high school angst driven films to more adult oriented topics.  That theme is even addressed by the fact that Mavis is the ghost writer of a “young adult” book series but seems burnt out on writing about teen drama while she’s actually reliving some of that drama in the real world.  In the end Cody is unapologetic about where Mavis is going and what she’s learned about herself throughout the course of the film.  I appreciated the fact that she was brave enough to go down the route that she did and challenge the status quo because Young Adult didn’t go with a typical Hollywood ending and instead took the road less traveled.  As for Jason Reitman, he seems to have a better eye for scripts than he does for directing.  He’s definitely competent but he seems to have taken a page from his Dad’s playbook and just films everything very plainly.  There’s no style to his pictures that distinguish him as a director but he’s turned in some great films like the completely underrated Thank You for Smoking.  In the end I guess it doesn’t matter how much style Jason Reitman has or doesn’t have; if his movies continue to make money a studio will let him continue to make boring looking movies.

Young Adult is a very funny, incredibly awkward film.  I’d classify it as a “Romcom” but I’m sure there are those that would disagree with me and classify it as more as a “Dramedy.”  There’s not really a right or wrong answer, it all boils down to personal choice.  I think there will be audience members that will dislike Young Adult because of how unlikable Charlize Theron’s Mavis can be but that’s where one of the film’s greatest strengths comes from, it goes against the grain and has a protagonist that you couldn’t even call an “anti-hero” because she’s so bad.  Young Adult isn’t going to be for everyone but I think it’s a much better film than Juno and has two wonderful performances that culminate in a bed of funny awkwardness.  I realize how ridiculous that last sentence sounded but if you see Young Adult it might make a little more sense.