I was excited about Young Adult. This is the new film from both Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman. Now Before seeing Young Adult I was under the impression that Diablo Cody had a 50% Hit rate. With Juno she wrote a warm, engaging film that captured the minds and hearts of my generation. With Jennifers body however she let everyone down and made a mess of a film. However, writing Juno buys her a couple of mis steps in my eyes. Jason Reitman however had a 100% hit rate. With Thank You for Smoking he raised some serious issues about freedom wrapped in a witty and fairly light hearted way, Juno did the same for teenage pregnancy and Up In The Air did the same for unemployment and the recession. What all did also was give us a lead character who we may not normally have liked, the guy supporting the cigarette industry, the teenage mother, or the guy who fires you, and turned them into both likeable and identifiable people, as well as often the people who made the most sense out of anyone in the film.
So Young Adult reunites the two, and things like this are both exciting and worrying. It is entirely plausible that they will pick up where they left off, like old lovers picking up where their whirlwind romance left off, rekindling passions they thought they would never feel again and creating something beautiful. Or it could have been an awkward meeting with an ex in a supermarket where conversation doesn't come naturally and neither can wait to get away from the other. What ultimately transpires is that it is neither of these things.
The story: Mavis (Charlize Theron) gets an email from her high school boyfriend about the birth of his new baby. It's the type of email you imagine was simply sent to his entire address book in a moment of unbridled joy at the birth of his child, but Mavis takes it all too personally and can't stop thinking about it. So she decides to go back to the town she grew up in and try and win Buddy back, despite his wife and child. Mavis' life consists of drinking quite heavily, writing teen fiction which is on the way out, and meeting random men in bars. It's safe to say from the get go that she's not happy.
When she moves back she not only latches onto Buddy, but also becomes friends with Matt, a guy who she didn't have the time of day for in school, and who due to an unprovoked attack as a youth from jocks, now walks with a cane. Mavis is remembered as a prom queen bitch, and isn't very popular among the local women, and even her own parents don't seem to take her cries for help seriously. Ultimately she comes to the realisation that she's not happy and goes out to seek help.
Like other Jason Reitman films you shouldn't like Mavis, she's mean, manipulative, and spends the majority of the film trying to steal a man away from his wife and child. However you also feel sorry for her, and she's ultimately not an awful person. She moved away from her home town because it was small, and she felt trapped (something I am sure that many people can identify with) and she's just trying anything she can to find happiness for herself.
The writing is very nicely executed here too, it's a tender script that deals with high school grudges and adult life very skilfully, It makes me want to watch The United States of Tara and see how issues are dealt with there. The acting is superb throughout, Charlize Theron deserves more recognition than she's been getting for this role, because I think she's rarely been better. People noticed her in Monster because there was a lot of press about how she'd 'gone ugly' for the role, but it is performances like these, playing self obsessed bitchy depressives that always get overlooked. Special mention too to Patton Oswalt, who despite my always getting confused with Oliver Platt is really excellent as the mentally and physically scarred Matt who also provided me with one of the biggest laughs in the film.
This film is funny and thoughtful and another tick in the right boxes for all those involved. My only criticism is an odd one, because despite all this I did think the film was missing something, something that I am struggling to put my finger on. Maybe that will be resolved next time I watch it, but rest assured, this is a smart and entertaining film, and there should be more like it.
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