Young Adult

So I remember when I first heard about this film I thought, 'eh'. Then I heard more and more about it and it looked better and better. I am a fan of Diablo Cody's writing in Juno and somehow, for unknown reasons, I am one of two people on earth who also enjoyed Jennifer's Body. Now that I've lost the last shred of my credibility, I shall go on. This was a little dramedy from Cody and Jason Reitman and it surpassed it's $12 million budget and brought in about $20 million with it's limited release.

The movie is about a thirty-something young adult author, Mavis Gary, played by Charlize Theron, who returns to her small hometown in Minnesota after a divorce with the sole intention of rekindling with an old flame, played by Patrick Wilson. The only problem is that Wilson's character is married and just had a baby, with Elizabeth Reaser. While staying in town to work on her homewrecking agenda, she befriends Patton Oswalt who plays a former, and current, nerd who Mavis' character had ignored in high school.

The dialogue was not as crazy unique as Juno or Jennifer's Body, for sure. The characters were uniquely well written however. Mavis was just a mess of emotions, motives, and flaws, but yet you couldn't help but feel for her. I think a movie does it's job when you cringe when a character does something embarrassing, which is what I was doing during the entire baby-naming party. The plot, while perhaps probable for a crazy person, wasn't that probable in my opinion, but it was grounded in reality. There was a rising action, although slow, and a definite climax, but things just weren't extremely interesting - as far as the plot goes.

The opening sequence with the repeated soundtrack song was pretty cool. I can completely relate to listening to a song over and over. The rest of the movie had great framing and some great little scenes thrown into the mix, such as Mavis sitting on the bed dressed and simply waiting for the appropriate time to leave for the bar. The soundtrack was also pretty great.

Charlize Theron really held the movie together. I'm not sure if any other actress could've pulled off this mess of a character and still have been somewhat likable. She played the character as though she didn't know her own vulnerability, but everyone else could see it. Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt played off her quite well. One of the other actresses seemed a little too animated.

The movie was heavy on the drama and light on the comedy. There was some dry and satirical humor thrown into the mix, but on the whole you felt just as depressed as the main character without realizing it until the end of the movie. Charlize proved how good she is, once again. The movie was ok. "Sometimes in order to heal, a few people have to get hurt".