SummaryMavis Gary is a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart. When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate who hasn't quite gotten over high school, either. (Paramoun...
SummaryMavis Gary is a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart. When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate who hasn't quite gotten over high school, either. (Paramoun...
user score 6.2?? Seriously??
This movie deserves 8/10 at least. I loved it. The screenplay is great and Charlize Theron is amazing as the ''psychotic prom queen **** Mavis Gary. The movie is a smart, original, cynical and funny dark comedy. 10/10.
This is the best movie of the year. Charlize Theron deserves an oscar for her performance. A funny and very sad story that is engaging to the last minute.
So it makes sense that Young Adult feels at times like a mashup of styles and genres - part curdled rom-com, part psycho-prom-queen flick, with a little "Revenge of the Nerds" thrown in.
For most of the movie, Cody and Reitman jape at her until, in the last 20 minutes or so, they attempt to turn her into an object of sympathy. It doesn't work and, on balance, neither does Young Adult.
OMG! This is a new classic, and why is the reason? Is fantastic, have much interesting stories, with an excellent cast, the rhytm is great. Young Adult is not the best film of Jason, but is interesting, and funny.
Until the middle of the movie it feels boring, and viewer waits story to start. A writer, Mavis (Charlize Theron), in her mid 30's is divorced, and she feels unfulfilled, unhappy. She is also having trouble finishing her latest book that is part of her young adult novels series. She feels that she is done with these books, and does not know what is next. Because her success in these novels mostly based on her acquaintances with jerk life culture in high school. And now it is about to finish. Then she receives an email from her old boy friend Buddy (Patrick Wilson), that he got a daughter in his marriage. She takes this email as an invitation to reunite again, and goes back to her home town.
She tries to seduces Buddy to reunite again. and that is noticeable. When she is invited to Buddy house, she makes remarks to his wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) that her baby looks like her, not Buddy. Mavis' friction eventually outbursts at baby's name giving party when Beth bumps her spilling wine on Mavi's dress. She directly tells in the party why she returned back to town. She shouts at them "What is wrong with you people?" In fact her inquiry is how on earth you simple people could be so happy with your poor lifes . She is angry at them, but also jealous of them. How on earth they are feeling so fulfilled while she is not.
I think this was the twisting point in the movie. And I started to like, and have sympathy for Mavis. After the party she goes to another class mate's Matt, home and and seduce him to sex. In the morning , she talks with Matt's sister, Sandra. She cries confessing its is very difficult her to be happy for her. Sandra tells Mavis that she is better than everyone in the the town. That was striking moment for Mavis that she realized it is true. She feels sorry for feeling like dump and seeking love of Buddy. She remembers she is indeed better than these people. And then she leaves the house. Sandra asks her to take with her. But now, Mavis was a different person looking to the future, leaving everything about her old town behind. She said no Sandra.
Movie ends with question still hanging in the air for her. happiness. journey or a destination?
Both Charlize Theron, and Patrick Wilson were good choices for these roles.
There are two things that come out of watching "Young Adult." That Charlize Theron is still one of the best actresses around, and that Diablo Cody is an inspiring screenplay writer.
Mavis, portrayed by Theron, is a successful writer living in the 'Minni Apple,' 'living the dream' of the small-town people of Mercury, Minnesota. As we soon find out, Mavis' success is coming to an end and with that end of an epoch of her life, old news come from her small hometown, colliding the two worlds at the worst time. A stagnant (if not slowly failing) career, a non-existent romantic life and a poor social and health life, all come together in this rather amusing drama. It is not quite a comedy Mavis' delusions, while entertaining, are no joking matter.
Diablo Cody, writer of Juno and this film, has made sure that the characters are all rather complex and stimulating. In one scene, Mavis and her newfound friend from high school, the crippled Matt (Patton Oswalt) mock the apparent happy-go-lucky one-sidedness of Mavis' cousin, who is also crippled but is extensively optimistic to make up for his physical disability. This can be seen as Cody's poking at poorly written characters, as everyone else seems to be rather well-developed, especially Theron's character. Talking of Theron, she gives an inspired performance with a lot of subtle, character traits that create a great sense of who Mavis really is, without over acting or being overly theatrical even in scenes that are rather theatrical themselves.
The film's overall vibe is more something that one would expect from a Noah Baumbach film, like "Margot at the Wedding" or "The Squid and the Whale," not a Jason Reitman film. None of the characters are very likeable. Mavis' is borderline crazy, Matt is a depressed man not doing much with his life but criticising himself and others, Buddy (Mavis' high school fling, played by Patrick Wilson) is disengaged and somehow selfish, and his wife (Elizabeth Reaser) seems manipulative in her overt niceness and unspoken criticisms. It is far from the overt dislike one has of Baumbach's characters, but still it was a resounding theme that was hard to ignore.
Overall, the film is entertaining and gets one thinking, with excellent performances by Theron and Oswalt, and a very well written screenplay that is very much character-driven and rewarding in that sense. There is very little here that does not work, but "Young Adult" is still not necessarily a film that you will want to watch again. If anything, you will cringe at the thought of a re-watch, since it will remind you of your own high school days and lead you to think about your own life and your choices, for better or worse.
I just didn't see it. Just because a character is unpleasant and even delusional doesn't make her interesting nor does beauty. This model goes back to her home town where one person is interesting or even pleasant -- the Patton Oswalt character. Other than that, I guess if you are from a small town in Minnesota there is something worth seeing or thinking about. I just didn't see it. Honestly, I kept on thinking about the films that never get made because they don't have a star to carry the film and get it funded. And honestly even though she is marketable, Diablo Cody just might be overrated. But she gets her films made. Did the critics really think it was that good? Or did they see it was Jason Reitman and Charlize Theron and Diablo Cody? Hey they're bankable. And they made a movie.
Jeeez, this was one boring movie, the trailer indicated a comedy, but this was just a very low key, uninvolving, indie flick. Five minutes in and i'm guessing this is how Diablo cody lives, fair enough, write what you know about, but where was the comedy or at least an interesting story. Maybe cody's script or story was a good one, but its hard to tell after jason reitman has once again made a film that **** any entertainment value out of it. This film tries so hard to be a cool, niche movie, but if it does become a cult classic, who will it be for??? If you want to see a low key, indie flick about a middle aged woman's road to salvation, then go for the british movie 'Red Road', it may be bleak, but at least its INTERESTING, which this movie is definitely not.