YOUNG ADULT

“YOUNG ADULT” (Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson & Patton Oswalt)

This film ought to be called “Diablo Cody’s Revenge” (she wrote the screenplay) – it is so blatantly biased against every ‘prettiest girl in high school’ prom queen, the story itself becomes even more pathetic than Charlize Theron’s Mavis Gary. And that’s pretty damn pathetic.
I was hoping that this film would be better than the trailer – just because Charlize was in it and I hadn’t seen her for awhile. When it was over I shook my head in disbelief wondering why Charlize would ever agree to play such a character as Mavis – unless it was her intent to show that she could play a believable pathetic loser. Which she does a decent job of doing, but the storyline is what drags this thing down into the desperate dregs of possible 10 Worse films of the year territory.
This is also Theron’s movie from start to finish; there are very few scenes that don’t involve Mavis. In fact, I can’t remember any. There are also zero scenes of Mavis doing anything positive – whether it’s stuffing her poor little Pomeranian into a handbag and zipping it up or thinking she could simply waltz back into her high school boyfriend’s life and steal him away from the woman that just gave birth to their first child, Mavis is the quintessential ‘hot mess’.
Mavis is an author – a ghost writer specifically – for a successful series of ‘young adult’ romance novels. Trouble brews when she comes down with a case of writer’s block.
After Mavis receives an e-mail from her ex-boyfriend announcing the birth of his daughter, she hatches the idea of using a trip to her old hometown to both win back Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) and use the journey as a plot inducer to finish what we learn will be her last novel for her current employer.
As desirable as Mavis appears, the story wants us to realize she has numerous flaws – the selfish beauty queen has an unsightly bald spot above her ear because she can’t stop pulling out the hairs from that area – so the nervous tick leads her to have to wear hair extensions. To let us know what a true slob Mavis is, they have her make the trip to Mercury (her hometown) wearing the T-shirt and sweats she slept in the night before. And, of course, the first place Mavis heads to when she arrives in Mercury is a dive bar because naturally the girl who peaked in high school yet is still stunning to look at – is an alcoholic. Mavis downs shots of bourbon like they were chocolate milk. Just to add insult to insult, Mavis is made out to be a complete moron by the fact that the only show she watches on television is “The Kardashians”.
Mavis meets Matt (Patton Oswalt) at the bar. Matt obviously remembers Mavis but she doesn’t have a clue as to he is even after he tells her their lockers were side by side all through high school. It is when she sees Matt’s crutch that she remembers him as being the gay guy that got beaten within an inch of his life and left for dead by a bunch of gay bashing jocks, even though, as Matt keeps repeating, “I’m not gay.”
Matt is clearly disturbed by Mavis’s rude behavior and lack of sympathy, yet still he sits with her all night drinking and conversing. Why? Because Mavis, despite being a female douche bag, is gorgeous – and morons like Matt feel privileged just to share a table with the witch. This is the one time Diablo lays off of Mavis’s shortcomings just long enough to let us know that unattractive men are pathetic creatures as well.
As the plot thins, Mavis’s deplorable behavior keeps getting worse; although the ex-boyfriend doesn’t help matters when he kisses Mavis passionately one night and then the next day acts as though he never made any advances towards his ex-lover. Another Diablo lesson – attractive guys are scumbags too.
It’s as if Cody wanted to show what a low life the ‘prom queen’ had become – so utterly pathetic that she turns to the only man in the buzzing metropolis of Mercury, Minnesota willing to have sex with her – meaning we’re supposed to believe that a woman that looks like Charlize Theron can’t get laid because of how she behaves... Uh-hu. Yeah. Right.
I know some will say that I’m being too harsh on this film – that it’s an in-depth character study of someone who ‘peaked’ in high school. That would be acceptable if Charlize’s looks had gone. They haven’t. Even though she isn’t a busty babe, Charlize was radiant in the scenes where she wore a low cut black dress. In a bar full of men I’m betting not a single one of them would have turned down an invitation back to her hotel room... except in Diablo Cody’s make believe world of revenge...