Film: Young Adult
Cast includes: Charlize Theron (Monster), Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens), Patrick Wilson (Morning Glory)
Director: Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno), Writer: Diablo Cody (Juno)
Genre: Comedy/Drama (2011)
When Mavis rolls out of bed at noon, it’s obvious that she got wasted last night. Chapter 1… This isn’t going so well. Mavis’s publisher is leaving angry voice mail messages wanting to know when she’ll have something to look at. Mavis lives in Minneapolis and ghostwrites cheesy romance novels for the Young Adult series. But it looks like Mavis’s life is catching up with her. That baby announcement in this morning’s email is just the last straw. “Can you imagine Buddy still living in Mercury, trapped with a wife and kid? Like a hostage!” Mavis knows she was “lucky to get out.” What a glamorous life… living in the “Mini-Apple” writing for Young Adult… getting wasted every day. And now her high school boy friend is sending a baby announcement. This is sick… it looks like Mercury is calling Mavis back.
The first thing Mavis does after getting settled at the Hampton Inn is call Buddy… “I’m in town for this real estate thing. Why don’t we meet for a drink.” Buddy says OK… but not today. So Mavis goes to a favorite bar from high school days to hang out and remind her self how lucky she was to have gotten out of this shitty town. Another customer, Matt recognizes Mavis right away, but Mavis doesn’t have a clue who Matt is. “Our lockers were right next to each other in high school,” Matt says, trying to jog her memory. It isn’t until she notices the crutches that she remembers Matt… “You’re the hate crime guy!” (Some jocks nearly beat Matt to death because they thought he was gay.) As Mavis downs whiskey like water, Matt starts looking like someone she can confide in. That’s when she tells him, “Buddy Slade and I are meant to be together and I’m here to get him back.” When Matt reminds Mavis of Buddy’s wife and baby, Mavis isn’t phased. “Hey, I’ve got baggage, too.”
Mavis is a woman on a mission, and watching her clumsy assault on Buddy and the whole town of Mercury is both funny and tragic. Mavis is so self-centered that it’s impossible for her to see anything except her single-minded mission. The scenes when Mavis and Buddy… or Mavis and anybody else… talk past each other are classic. The longer Mavis stays in Mercury, the more we realize that Mavis has burned just about everyone she’s ever known. Charlize Theron’s performance as Mavis captures both the tragedy and the humor of Mavis’s self-centered existence, alternating between arrogance and self-pity. Young Adult is a complex story that skillfully combines elements from different genres. Reitman and Cody (director and writer) previously teamed up on Juno, another complex comedy. While Mavis’s classmates have become adults, Mavis is still the “psychotic prom queen bitch” she always was… “a piece of work.”
4 popped kernels
Inside this comedy is a real character study that might bring to mind someone you know
Popcorn Profile
Rated: R
Primary Audience: Young adults
Gender Appeal: Any audience
Distribution: Mainstream wide release
Mood: Both upbeat and somber
Tempo: Cruises comfortably
Visual Style: Nicely varnished realism
Character Development: Engaging
Language: Irreverent
Social Significance: Pure entertainment & Thought provoking
