"Matt, don't you get it? Love conquers all. Have you not seen the graduate or like, I don't know, anything?"
Young Adult (2011) is a character study of someone stuck on the "what ifs" of the past. Mavis is a "successful" writer of a popular series of young adult novels about high school romance, but she's constantly plagued by the thought of her high school love Buddy, that didn't work out. One day something clicks and she decides to return to her hometown and try to win him back despite the fact he's married and has just had his first child.
I really enjoyed the story in this film. After seeing this film I was amazed that no one has ever written about what happens to the popular girl after she leaves town and her high school golden years are over. The script feels a bit different than most of Diablo Cody's screenplays, to me this character seemed a lot more sensitive than most of her other strong and brash females, but it still has a lot of the things that people come to see her movies for also. The script is hilarious and has a lot of really memorable lines and moments that will stick with you long after watching.
This film is going to rub some people the wrong way, but that's part of the intent. I really enjoyed it, and I didn't have any problem with it personally, but I could see how a whole film following Mavis who is a complete and utter mess would turn off a lot of people.
Also the story reaches a point at about the climax where you will realize, there's really not a lot of more places this story can go. And therefore the story pretty much drops off significantly after a certain point. But that being said, I still enjoyed the film immensely.
Young Adult is the second film written by Diablo Cody and Directed by Jason Reitman, some of you may have heard about 2007's smash hit indie drama Juno. You wouldn't almost connect the dots though, this film is tonally quite a bit different than Juno and has a completely different direction and approach to it's story. I adore Jason Reitman's films and like his others', Young Adult is stylish, interesting and has a heartfelt character story at the core of it. This film does an amazing job of seamlessly dancing between pure comedy and pure drama without cheapening one or the other at all. This is something that's not easy to do at all and this is the reason most comedy films these days a) don't sell well and b) aren't critically well thought of either.
The whole cast in this film seems perfect for their roles, but Charlize Theron really seals the deal. She does such a good job of playing a complete mess of a character while likewise showing that she can also spiff up and impress people and be genuinely sexy when she wants to also.
Young Adult (2011) is the result of a collaboration of a great screenwriter, an awesome director and amazing actors. It's story may not be for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4.5/5 stars.
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