Young Adult

The second collaboration between Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, after the excellent Juno, is very good even though less flashy.

Synopsis: Mavis Gary is a recently divorced writer of young adult novels for a series that has reached the end of its life.  One day she receives a card about the birth of her former high school beau’s first child.  Still having feelings for him, and certain that he feels the same way and feels trapped into his marriage and now fatherhood, Mavis takes a trip back to her hometown to get back together.  Not everything will go as she expected it to.

Young Adult might be less sunny and cheerful than Juno, but Reitman and Cody created another great dark comedy.  The sheer determination of this woman to wreck a family and the fact that her view of reality is so completely warped are perfectly portrayed by a fantastic Charlize Theron.  I still haven’t seen her in Monster, for which she won the Oscar, but after seeing her in Young Adult, I already know she deserved it.

Theron is really the main attraction here, but both Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt give good performances.  Especially Oswalt.  The dark and cold cinematography helps with setting the tone, and the score and songs chosen perfectly accompany this little adventure.

The Bottom Line: Young Adult is a well crafted, well written, well acted film that will not disappoint the cinephile, even though the casual viewer might find it a bit slow at times.

Grade: 8