I’m not sure what you’ve heard or seen of Young Adult, but you could be forgiven for thinking that it is a bit of a light-hearted comedy. The trailer seems to agree, David Bowie’s Queen Bitch plays jauntily in the background whilst the main character, Mavis, spouts some entertaining and deluded lines - a Clueless for the older generation, if you will.
Don’t be fooled though, this new offering from former Juno pairing - director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody - is a rather dark film that somehow jumps for, and misses, several different genres. A strange mash-up of romance, comedy and drama that feels somewhat unsettled for the majority of the film with the final product as unsure of itself as its protagonist, it holds little of the charm that made Juno such a hit.
Young Adult centres on Mavis, a thirty-something writer of young adult fiction, who is living in Minneapolis – a far cry from the ‘hick town’ that she grew up in. When an invite to a baby shower from Buddy, her high school boyfriend, arrives in her inbox, Mavis decides he’s calling out to her and sets off on a journey back to her hometown to liberate her soulmate from his dull life as dutiful father/husband. On arrival home, Mavis stalks around the town, delighting in being the former prom queen returning valiant from her big job in the city, however, soon enough we notice that this ‘dream life’is a thin façade as Mavis’delusion and fragile mental state become clearer. Spending the majority of the film drunk and unhealthily fixated on a partner she dated far in her past (despite kindly warnings by ‘hate crime guy’ Matt that Buddy has moved on) it is pretty obvious that Mavis needs some sort of intervention, which she refers to when in conversation with her parents, who fail to take the hint. Slowly our attention is brought to other things that seem to be less than rosy in Mavis’ life; an allusion to her broken marriage and phone calls from her publisher that are increasingly negative. However Mavis rallies onwards, offending and misinterpreting everything in her path, until we’re begging for some self-realisation on her part.
Charlize Theron plays Mavis to a tee, at times vain and self indulgent, mixing just the right blend of arrogance with delusion but also giving the character a much needed vulnerable side. Co-star and real life stand up comedian Patton Oswalt’s performance as hate crime victim Matt was similarly great, his blend of empathy and pity towards Mavis magnify the audiences’ own feelings. Patrick Wilson and Elizabeth Reaser portray married couple with new baby well, with Reaser definitely of note as a wife who deals superbly with the threat to her marriage of another woman.
Young Adult certainly had great potential, the film lures the audience in with promises of comedy and laughs at Mavis’ cold, heartless character and then invites them to take a long, hard look at themselves; we’re not laughing at some dumb airhead but a woman that is going through some kind of crisis . I think where it fails though is that there is no real resolution to the film; it’s not romantic enough to be a romance, not funny enough to be viewed as a comedy and we don’t learn enough for it to be a drama. Ultimately, for all its original promise the plot trails off without really achieving anything, leaving the audience a little frustrated and unfilled – much like Mavis herself.
Young Adult official website
Read comments and make your own
Comments