Young Adult

The reteaming of Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman leads to a dark comedy starring the gorgeous and talented Charlize Theron as a narcissistic, alcoholic, and depressed young adult fiction writer who is caught up in her fictional drama and returns to her small Minnesota town to wreck the marriage of her old high school flame.

It has the sharp wit of Juno, and the sad, pseudo-sympathetic tone of Up in the Air, Young Adult takes on a bit more of the awkward edge, focusing on embarrassing broken social mores and the aging realization of a life that peaked with the fleeting hyperbole of high school popularity.

Charlize Theron is great in the spotlight. Constantly drinking, primping, and carrying the arrogant attitude that she is better than everyone around her, all the while making the viewer cringe at her lack of self-awareness. The film culminates in a great scene of public humiliation, but Theron's Mavis Gary is unaware that she is the one who looks like an idiot. It is very Rachel Getting Married, and is a great punctuation mark on her absurd quest for an impossible life.

What makes Young Adult work is that the character has depth considering how shallow she is. What I mean is that beneath the veneer of confidence and callousness is a frightened, insecure woman. She uses her sexuality as a cover, and in a rather touching climax to the film, she opens up to an old acquaintance who she demeaned in high school (played surprisingly well by Patton Oswalt).

The old flame, Buddy, played by Patrick Wilson, is a happy-go-lucky guy with a wife and a kid, who just seems oblivious to the ruse that Mavis is trying to play. Wilson doesn't seem to have much range, but plays the everyman with ease. He'll be sharing screen time with Theron again in this summer's Prometheus, which should be quite a trip.

Jason Reitman has certainly carved his niche. The dark romantic melocomedy. He's establishing himself as a bonafide artist, surpassing his father's legacy of comic fluff (expect a revival as Ghostbusters III is on the table). He is destined for a long career in directing, and will win himself an Oscar or more by the time he gives up the camera.

Diablo Cody, who exploded on the scene as the stripper-turned-writer of Juno, has redeemed herself from the debacle that was Jennifer's Body (you can't blame her for trying) and proved that she isn't just a flash in the pan. She has a lot of material to share, and teaming with Sam Raimi in the Evil Dead remake might be a genius move over the next couple of years.

Overall, the film hit a nerve for anyone who's thought about going back to old high school relationships. It grabs onto the coattails of the Facebook generation and kicks it up a notch with the fuel of alcohol, OCD, depression, and a bit of outer beauty. An entertaining film for sure, but brace yourself for a bit of a melancholy ride. 7/10.