The Big Takeaway: Young Adult brings Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman Academy Award Winning pedigree to a poorly written, blandly acted, but deliciously short semi-autobiographical character piece.
The Little Takeaway: A needless “take” on the romantic comedy. Overwrought, supposedly clever dialogue, flat characters and a general unfinished feeling to the script.
I’ll admit, I’m probably NOT the desired demographic for Young Adult. But then again, I’m not entirely sure who is. I do know it’s more for the ladies in the audience than the gentleman. That could explain the long scenes that pad out the movie, with reality shows playing in the background and Charlize Theron napping or passed out in a bed. I’m not sure a lot guys are wont to do that on any given day real or fictionalized, the reality shows in the background bit, I assure you men love the napping and sleeping.
I’ll also admit I’m not a big fan of Diablo Cody, nom de plume and all, either. I find her to be a overhyped, poor man's cynical Amy Heckerling, and not in a good way. Her plots generally go nowhere, and the characters that inhabit them are fine for younger actors who don’t know how to build a character (your Micheal Cera’s, Ellen Page’s), but stymie established actors that could actually bring that character to life. Charlize Theron sleepwalks through movies like this.
Young Adult is the story of Diablo Cody Brook Busey Mavis Gary, a ghost writer of a…young adult…series of books. From the voice over narration of the books, they seem to be glossy retellings of Mavis Gary’s teenage years: vapid, shallow, slutty and all. This is supposed to flesh out the character, but it does so laterally, keeping the character woefully one-dimensional. We get it, she was popular and mean, and so is the main character of her books, but it’s not providing the kind of depth I think Diablo Cody was going for.
Mavis, after getting an e-mail from an old beau, named Buddy Slade, announcing a new baby, gets the notion that he’s actually crying out for help and sets off on an adventure to take him away from his dour wife and hideous baby. Hilarity…ensues!?
The more curious thing, aside from the overwrought, semi-autobiographical, underpinnings, is the fact that Mavis Gary is in her mid-thirties. The lusting and longing for school days gone by doesn’t strike me as something that would compel someone in their mid-thirties to act upon. Perhaps if Mavis was in her mid to late twenties, I could suspend some disbelief. Even with the grand twist that she got pregnant with Slade’s baby when she was twenty and miscarried, did absolutely nothing to redeem the character. Again, I think that Diablo Cody figured this lazy bit of a twist would work on some level. This would be true had there been a third act of some sort. It may explain some of her latent crazy that spills out during that very uncomfortable scene, but there’s only ten minutes left in the movie by that point.
The “Oscar buzz” about Patton Oswalt’s acting in this movie needs to step back and recognize. While he does put in a great performance, if that’s what they want to call it, he’s merely another voice in the movie trying to humanize Mavis enough for the audience to care. It’s almost as if Diablo Cody couldn’t write a script that could make the audience at least empathize with Mavis and instead went with the heavyhanded magical other guy that somehow understands and relates to Mavis. If you wish to see Patton Oswalt act the shit out of something, check out 2009's Big Fan.
More to the point, the script comes across as first draft through and through. It feels like two-thirds of a movie. Perhaps this is supposed to be genre defining or a change of pace for a character driven film. Kind of like Diablo Cody’s take on a tired character driven romantic comedy. Instead of bumping in to things, falling over stuff and changing her life just in time to land the hunky guy, Mavis Gary just sort of shrugs her shoulders and maintains the fuck you attitude that she started the movie with. You’re thinking we’ll go in to Act III and something will happen, at least bring the film to some sort of satisfying conclusion. Instead, the credits start rolling.
Reitman’s directing is falling in to a familiar pattern of non-obtrusive blandness. This movie almost seems like it meant to be put on the television in the background while you do other things. Kind of like schlocky cable shows where you can follow along to them without paying much attention. Young Adult is also kind of movie that sits on your local video rental place and is unobtrusive, but frequently rented by accident. It stands out only in that Charlize Theron is in it and nothing more. You can totally pick it up for a date night, fall asleep halfway through, or pick up a pizza and not really miss anything important.
And while it seems that I didn’t really like Young Adult, it’s not really the case. The move just sort of happened at me, and it made me wonder what’s so great about Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman or this re-teaming in general? On display in this movie is the very real notion that Diablo Cody’s writing may be a tad overrated, and that Jason Reitman's talents may be better spent directing Lexus "December to Remember" commercials.
Final Verdict: A yawn and a Pass
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