It’s hard not to bring up Juno with this review because Young Adult is the same creative team essentially. With Juno, Diablo Cody wrote and Jason Reitman directed and they have teamed up again for Young Adult. Juno is best described as “Cute,” (actually it’s overly cute) and it really isn’t much more than that. Young Adult, however, is a much deeper story and a much more interesting one, too.
Charlize Theron’s character Mavis is a complete sociopath in this film. A delusional, irredeemable, vain bitch who, yes, is an alcoholic and is depressed, but it is VERY hard to feel bad for her. Mavis does not care or ever stop to think twice about her mission to steal back her high school boyfriend Buddy (played by Patrick Wilson) from his wife and child. There is nothing cute about the way she acts. And yet, even though we don’t feel bad for her, I think she’s a main character people can actually connect with in a strange way. Mavis wants her old life back and will basically stop at nothing to have that. I think we all cling to nostalgia when we feel we’re stuck in a bad spot. I remember talking to Rex once about how people fantasize about getting back together with an ex sometimes totally irrationally. While most of us recognize we can’t go back to that, Mavis just tries to take back her past happiness back by force.
The movie’s called “Young Adult” because Mavis is a writer of a pretty successful YA series that has now over with and maybe as a writer she feels like she can write her own life. She tells Buddy she based a character on him and really I think Young Adult’s scenes of where Mavis gets inspiration for her writing are some of the best. She is constantly quoting other people (especially teenage girls she overhears in fast food restaurants and in Staples which further shows how stuck in the past she is) and making up things that aren’t true. Interestingly though, She lies to herself and not to others. She is very forward when talking to other characters always. It’s most apparent when she tells her parents “I’m an alcoholic” or when she tells Buddy “I came here for you. I can stay as long as I need”
Moving on from Charlize TheRonBlog’s performance, Patton Oswalt is definitely this movie’s best character. The dude has always been a hero of mine and he never disappoints in his writing his acting, his standup or anything else. In Young Adult, Oswalt plays Matt who, like Mavis, is equally stuck in his High School past. After suffering a beating that crippled him he is physically marked by his high school time while Mavis is emotionally marked by the loss of her “love of her life” Buddy.
Patton Oswalt plays a kind of nerdy voice of wisdom (which really isn’t that far off from the actor’s real self) who really is Mavis’ only friend in the film. Someone who’s had to accept unhappiness and move past it whereas Mavis can’t do that. When Matt asks Mavis near the end of the movie “why are you after Buddy?” she replies “He knew me when I was at my best” and Matt says “No. YOU knew ME when I was at MY best” meaning she knew him before the assholes beat him and ruined his life forever.
The only slightly weak part of the movie is that near the end of the film things get talky where Jason Reitman had previously been excellent at “show don’t tell.” The frequent scenes of Mavis getting manicures/pedicures and the montages of her putting on makeup and clothes are great character-building and storytelling moments. The most talking is at Buddy’s daughter’s “naming party” where Mavis has a breakdown and screams a lot of exposition about how she miscarried Buddy’s child which is probably why she’s so fucked up. I’m not sure if we need that information actually. We might, but even if it is necessary to our understanding of Mavis, we didn’t need this massive speech to get that.
Also, Mavis’ talk with Matt’s sister at the end is pretty drawn out and wordy, but I like the message it leaves us with. I love that this movie doesn’t have a neat, bow ending. Matt’s sister hates the small town she lives in and Mavis agrees. That’s Mavis’ biggest epiphany in the whole movie besides her reaction to the party freak out. Besides “I fucked up,” Mavis realizes she hates the town she grew up in and doesn’t belong there. And that’s it. She doesn’t do this 180 and become a new person. Mavis just gets over Buddy and her High School days and that’s it. And she does it in a way very true to her character by saying “This place fucking sucks” basically.
While a lot of movies are about “returning home” this movie is about getting the fuck out of home. For good. And that’s pretty fresh and great.
Grade: B+
0 comments:
Post a Comment