Young Adult [DVD]

I have to say I didn't know much about this film before I saw it. Seeing a picture of Charlize Theron on the front cover, dressed kind of kookily, made me think it was going to be a happy-go-lucky comedy. It isn't. It's much darker, almost to the point of looking at metal instability.

Theron plays a writer who, upon receiving an out-of-the-blue email from an ex boyfriend saying he's married with a new baby, she decides that the two of them were actually meant to be together and travels back to her home town to win him back. In interviews promoting this film, Theron said that she wanted to play an `unlikeable character who the audience felt some sympathy for.' A difficult task, but she does come close. She's shallow, knows she's good looking, single-minded and doesn't care who she steps on (namely the wife and child of the man she has decided she wants) to achieve her goals. Therefore she is a pretty unlikeable character. But, yes, she is vulnerable too. You can tell that there's something going on inside her mind that isn't quite right. She may appear to have it all on the outside, but she's losing it on the inside.

I didn't find this film that funny, but I found I couldn't stop watching it. It is very addictive. Theron is excellent, as is the script which is more tragic and poignant than funny.

If you want a feel-good film then this might not be the one for you, but if you want something with a little more meat on it, then give it a go.

Young Adult is a car crash of a film. Starring Charlize Theron as Mavis Gray, a fiction writer from Mercury, Minnesota, returning to her roots. Mavis has hit the big time - moving to Minneapolis (the Mini Apple) and ghost writing teen fiction novels for a supermarket series. When she is invited back home for a baby shower, she decides to steal back her former boyfriend, Buddy Slade. There is no adequate explanation of why she wants to do this; no thought about what she would do with him if she succeeded - just a wish to do it for its own sake. Because that's the kind of girl she is.

The viewer knows this will not end well.

On her path to self-abasement, Mavis keeps running into Matt - the fat kid from school who was queerbashed and garnered great sympathy - until he came out as straight. Matt is a loser who treasures his many excuses for failure as they relieve him of the need to try. He lives with his sister Sandra and makes fantasy figure models. When he is daring, he creates hybrid fantasy figures. The contrast between Mavis and Matt is played to full effect

The humour in the film is principally in laughing at Mavis's lack of self awareness. Her achievements are so modest, her pride is so enormous, and her prospects are so small that she cannot fit in anywhere. In the Mini Apple she is a washed up failure; in Mercury she no longer fits in. But she acts as though she were a celebrity and seems surprised when nobody recognises her or, if they do, they don't swoon. It's not slapstick; it isn't easy gags with punchlines - but it is very funny, very black comedy.

Some reviewers have complained that Mavis is not likeable - but she was never supposed to be. Alternatively, they complain that she doesn't learn her lesson. Indeed she doesn't - but what lesson should she learn? She may be horrible, but the hicks in Mercury are still hicks - becoming more like them would not be a solution. Essentially, it is a bad situation that, short of a winning lottery ticket turning up, is unlikely to be improved.

Plus, if it had ended in redemption, we would have been denied the final scene - the funniest in the film - where we see that there is someone even more contemptible and pathetic than Mavis.

From the same writer (Cody) and director (Reitman) as Juno, this movie has a lot of similarities in its study of dysfunctional relationships albeit of mid 30's rather than teenage lead characters. Charlize Theron is excellent as always and leads a terrific cast. I can only think that the indifferent reviews that this film received were due to the mislabelling as a comedy - yes, there are some comic moments but this is basically a drama about imperfect people stumbling through life as best they can - as we all do. Just like Juno. So if you liked Juno you'll like this. Besides, who couldn't like a movie that repeats the start to a classic Teenage Fanclub song half a dozen times and then, just when you think the soundtrack couldn't get any better, has a band (of actors) come on and cover it live!