"Young Adult" is the story of that girl we all knew in high school: the impossibly beautiful, utterly snobby, prom queen brat who thinks she is entitled to everything. At least that's how Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is presented in this film from director Jason Reitman ("Thank You For Smoking," "Juno," "Up in the Air"), and screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno"). But the film takes that character and fast forwards her life twenty years as Mavis is now in her mid-thirties and is a moderately successful ghost writer of a young adult book series. Unfortunately for her...and everyone around her...Mavis has never really grown up, and with that high school mentality still intact she heads back to her hometown of Mercury, Minnesota, to try and win back her high school boyfriend Buddy (Patrick Wilson). The fact that Buddy is married and has a newborn doesn't matter one bit to her.
"Young Adult" is an absolutely biting black comedy. There is plenty of laugh-out-loud humor, but there are also plenty of scenes that are almost painful to watch (in the comedic sense) as Mavis has absolutely no regard to social norms, at least with respect to her pursuit of a married man. This is probably one of the year's best screenplays, and as far as I'm concerned, this is the film that announces Diablo Cody as a serious screenwriting talent in Hollywood, not the horribly overrated "Juno." Yes, Cody won an Oscar for her script for that film, but it was so filled with cheesy one-liners and pop culture references that it became nauseating. This is a completely mature script that is far more funny because it isn't trying too hard with endless dialogue that says "Hey, look at me!" "Juno" became a film that was more about the dialogue than the characters, but this film is absolutely about the characters, which is great, because Mavis Gary is an instantly memorable character and Theron absolutely hurls herself into the role. She is literally in every scene in the film, and while her wild abandon in her interactions with other people is fun to watch, the scenes where Mavis is alone are almost more impressive as these are the instances where we as the audience get to see a side of her that the people in her life never do. Mavis is clearly insecure, she clearly has emotional problems, and she is likely an alcoholic as she wakes up hung over every morning. Theron is brilliant in these scenes because she can say more with a simple facial expression than many actors can with a whole script. The juxtaposition of these two sides of Mavis is fascinating to watch, and Theron captures her flawlessly.
I should also mention Patton Oswalt, who has received some Oscar buzz for his role Matt, a high school acquaintance of Mavis's who at first serves as a sounding board for her, but their relationship becomes a bit deeper as the film progresses. Oswalt is quite good in the role, especially for a guy who's probably best known for his supporting role in "The King of Queens."
"Young Adult" is an absolutely excellent black comedy with one of the year's best characters and one of its best performances. One thing that drags it down a hair for me is the ending, as I wasn't really sure how much, if at all, Mavis has changed or learned from her experiences. But overall this is simply a great film that's definitely worth a look.
"Young Adult" is rated R for language and some sexual content.
Running time: 94 minutes.
Released domestically on December 9, 2011, by Paramount Pictures.
3.5 stars out of 4.
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