“Young Adult” (14A)
Directed by Jason Reitman
Rating: 4.5/5
As I sat through this film, it had me smiling, contemplating, chuckling and feeling quite gloomy. All in all, a really bang-up job. I am also severely attracted to Charlize Theron, but I digress. Approach the movie expecting all the humour that we would find from Diablo Cody – à la Juno – but beware the unflinchingly bittersweet tone of the entire film.
Young Adult marks the second collaboration between director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, following 2007’s darling Juno. Diablo Cody stated that this movie came as a result of the press hassling her over her fixation with adolescence. And so in Young Adult, she pours all of her fixation into Mavis Gary, a young adult fiction author who makes a trip back to her boring hometown of Mercury. Mavis’ reason for this visit is to win back her old high school flame, Buddy Slade, who is now a happily married father. While back in Mercury, she strikes up an unlikely bond with a former geeky classmate, and is struck by the harsh reality of her life and the lives of people in Mercury.
Diablo Cody really is a great screenwriter, and any asinine belief I may have had that Juno was a flash in the pan is instantly put to rest. With Young Adult, she finds a great wealth of humour in many forms, from deadpan wit to biting sarcasm. The scenes shared between Mavis and the geeky Matt Freehauf are pitch perfect for comedic timing. Cody also finds a great deal of sentimentality that is often heartrending despite its deliberately dismal approach. Jason Reitman is proficient as director, with an adept timing for humour and gloom.
And finally, my digression ends here. CHARLIZE FREAKING THERON does an incredible job in her performance as Mavis Gary. And don’t let my gushy schoolboy infatuation fool you; her performance has a lot more to it than looking pretty. I was struck by her effortless transition between cold cynicism, unsettling angst and straight up bitchiness. I must also compliment the two strong supporting performances from Patton Oswalt as Matt Freehauf, and Patrick Wilson as Buddy Slade. Patton Oswalt retains the same comedic personality that you might be familiar with, but manages to give a fair amount of gravitas to his performance. And it’s rare that I’ll see a character defined as simply as “nice” and “kind” and have them come off fitting those descriptions so well, but Patrick Wilson does just that. He’s the everyman niceguy, and is very well cast.
So in conclusion, Young Adult sort of met the expectations that I set for it. To be honest, I’m not entirely familiar with Charlize Theron’s work, unless you count the billion-something times I’ve seen her Dior ad on TV. So when I heard about her starring in a Reitman/Cody project, I figured I had a chance to shed the immaturity of my infatuation and actually see her utilize her acclaimed talent. And I got just that: she delivers a first class performance, and Cody and Reitman provide the perfect vehicle. Mind you, it broke some of my expectations too, and I’m still reeling a bit. In severe hindsight, Young Adult is undoubtedly in my top ten films from 2011.
calvindsilva 