Ever wonder what happened to the attractive popular blonde from just about every teen movie ever made?
Charlize Theron’s character Mavis Gary, from Jason Reitman’s new film “Young Adult,” is a pretty good explanation. Back in the day Mavis was the queen of her high school in the very small town of Mercury, Minnesota. Although now in middle age, Mavis is no longer the center of attention.
Now she lives in Minneapolis (“The Mini Apple” as some call it). She’s the author of a popular teen literature series that’s since become unpopular and she’s in the slow process of writing the last book. She doesn’t appear to have any friends and most nights she drinks herself silly, only to wake up, either to her neglected dog Dolce, or with some random man she’s hooked up with. These clearly aren’t the best years of her life.
When first watching “Young Adult” one could make the comparison to Cameron Diaz’s character in “Bad Teacher,” which came out earlier this year. Both are about mean spirited and miserable ladies with nasty schemes. In Mavis’s case it’s going back to Mercury and trying to rekindle with her old high school flame Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), who’s now happily married with a newborn baby. Terrible, yes, I know.
But after about ten minutes that comparison will dissipate, as the two films are very different in tone and everything else. “Bad Teacher” is energetic and raunchy, while “Young Adult” has a very bleak outlook and at times depressing. In the end it’s more of a character study that’s more similar to Robert D. Siegel’s 2009 film “Big Fan” starring Patton Oswald (who, ironically stars in this film too), which looked at the drab life of a NY Giants fan.
On top of that, Diaz’s character, Elizabeth Halsey, is mean but we don’t really know why, whereas “Young Adult” digs deeper into Mavis’ psyche and we get to see just how insecure she is. She can be awfully cruel, especially toward Matt Frehauf (Oswald), a geeky former classmate who suffered a traumatic beating in high school, but you don’t feel angry toward her as much as you feel sorry for her. It’s pathetic watching her doll herself up constantly to try and seduce Buddy, and while she doesn’t get a formal comeuppance, the reality of her whole situation is comeuppance enough.
I guess what I’m trying to get at here is that “Young Adult” is more true to life than “Bad Teacher.” It has more to say. There are no heroes or villains, only genuine characters who exhibit qualities from both, as opposed to “Bad Teacher,” where the characters don’t really have any motivations for anything they do beyond their initial set up.
Mavis’ unwillingness to grow up, along with Matt also not being able to forget the past (for different reasons) is the central idea of the movie and Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody know perfectly well how to handle their subject matter. Their 2007 film “Juno” also dealt with similar themes of adolescence and growing up. Cody packs her script tight with amusing and endearing character interactions and Reitman’s direction mirrors this perfectly, keeping the camera close up to the characters faces.
Not having a major film role since 2009’s “The Burning Plan,” it’s good to see Theron in full form again. In “Young Adult” she gives multi-layered, down to earth performance ranging from goofy to sincere to hysterical. Her meltdown scene at a baby naming ceremony hosted by Buddy and his wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) is both hilarious and sad at the same time. The supporting cast also does their part. Oswald has the lovable loser role down to a fine art, Wilson is his usual charming good guy self and Reaser gives a subtle yet moving performance. However, Theron is the only one who’s trying something new.
Perhaps the best thing about “Young Adult” is that it does something that most drama comedies have trouble doing. Reitman and Cody are able to bring it to an ending that breaks the clichés. Now I’m probably in the minority here. Unfortunately, I think most audiences will want the predictable ending. While it’s not the happiest of endings it’s one of the more realistic ones I’ve seen in recent years, which is the key to the success of the entire movie. [[In-content Ad]]