She Still has a lot of Room to Grow

"Young Adult"

Screenwriter Diablo Cody seemed to turn enough heads with her screenplay for Juno so that it earned her an Oscar back in 2007.  In 2009 her second screenplay, Jennifer's Body, left critics and audiences alike running for the auditorium doors.  Was Juno merely a fluke for the thirty-three year old?  In 2011 Cody re-teamed with director Jason Reitman (from Juno) for a third project called Young Adult.  The result is a mixed bag that is stronger than Cody's second outing but not as potent as Reitman's previous directorial efforts. 

Famed author in the genre of young adult fiction, Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is struggling to write her next novel.  The Kardashian watching, Diet Coke chugging, Minneapolis dwelling, thirty something year old bitterly returns to her podunk town where she grew up.  Why on Earth would Mavis want to return to such a poor, pathetic place such as Mercury, Minnesota?  The reason: Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson,) her high school sweetheart never left.  He now apparently is married and has a newborn baby.  Buddy sent out an e-vite announcing the event.  This of course attracted Mavis' attention.  She then gets the wild notion of somehow going back home to steal Buddy away from his family in hopes of reviving their lost romance.  Mavis' voice of reason (and drinking buddy,) Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) a loner from high school repeatedly tells her that all her delusions and fantasies of sweeping Buddy off his feet are crazy and hopeless.  Regardless, Mavis is bound and determined to get her Buddy back and for good this time.

Whether this is a good or bad thing, Young Adult in no way, shape, or form, resembles Juno.  All the whacky dialogue from the former is clearly absent in this film.  The plot is fairly thin making it more of a character driven piece much like Reitman's other works.  There's not much to like about Mavis because she is so self absorbed and lives in such a fantasy world.  Then again there's probably that one person we all know in our lives too.  People who haven’t moved on and still act like they are a teenager.  We want to feel sorry for her like some of the other characters do but Mavis never allows us to get there.  Her character doesn't change which proves to be the film's main downfall.

Reitman is an actor's director and he has Theron give a proficient performance as a woman who is caught up in her own little world and acts so immature towards everyone else.  It's surprising she can see five feet in front of her.  Young Adult is one those films that you can already see the climax way before the characters arrive there.  The premise itself is actually pretty silly and shortsighted much like Mavis' actions throughout the picture.  We can see the train-wreck that's eventually going to happen miles down the track. 

While this is the best thing Theron has done since winning at the Academy Awards for Monster she does remind us that she can act.  For Reitman, Up in the Air and Thank You for Smoking prove to be better watches.  Young Adult does have some good scenes that are quite pivotal to the plot but in the end they aren’t enough to truly hold the film together.  This is a decent third attempt for Cody but she still has a lot of room for improvement.  Hopefully she will stick to strong character driven ideas just with more redeemable individuals.