In school, I was a ghost. I was nonexistent. It put me in a perfect position to sit back and watch. I remember thinking the cool kids had it made. They had lots of friends, the latest clothes, perfect hair and all of their Saturday nights for the next month all planned out. Me, I just sat back dreaming, hoping someone would invite me out for next Saturday. My damn cowlick made the perfect hair about as realistic as getting a second glance from the dream girl who walked down the hall in slow motion with a magical wind blowing her hair.
It turns out those kids had the same messed up problems as I did. They just had some hairspray and a key to their parent’s liquor cabinet to hide behind. Most of the so-called cool kids were pretending to be something they weren’t much like I was hiding from myself. Funny thing is, it’s a universal experience that many of us can relate to. Thankfully, I came to my senses at some point. So did other ghosts. Most of the cool kids too. But some were left behind, holding out for that magical Saturday night, the endless party, the dream girl with the slow-motion fluttering hair.
That’s what makes Jason Reitman’s Young Adult so appealing. Filled with pain disguised as comedy, it presents a real-life Peter Pan complex where letting go of one’s youth is complicated and painful.
Mavis Gray (Charlize Theron) is stuck in her youth. Literally. Unable to settle, she works as a ghost writer for a once-popular series of books aimed at teens. Once the pretty girl that everyone admired, everyone else has moved into the real world while Mavis is stuck in a dream world. Only, it’s more like a nightmare. With the end of the series pending and her life going nowhere, Mavis heads back to her hometown. The excuse is to write, but the real reason is to convince her ex-boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) that they’ve still got something. Only thing is that the ex is now happily married and has a picturesque life, complete with a newborn baby.
It’s awkward as Mavis is essentially the same person as she was when she left her small town for the big city to become a writer. But while everyone looked up to Mavis for “making it,” they moved on and the one-time it girl was left behind.
With Young Adult, Reitman tackles what happens to teenaged confusion when it isn’t resolved. It’s ugly the first time, but when it’s not taken care of, it manifests into something monstrous. While it’s easy to hate Mavis, much like most everyone else does, the story has so many layers to it that emerge over time. It’s like in school where everyone’s wearing a mask. Everyone had something to hide. We just all did it differently. Reitman invites the audience to be Mavis’ friend. Once you spend some time with her, she lets you in on why she is the way she is. Behind that angelic face, she’s got some baggage.
Written by Diablo Cody (Juno), much of the film’s strength is its ability to make laughs out of life when it’s most complex. Cody does a fantastic job at finding the big truths in life. The script has little action. Instead, it’s long spans of dialogue and small moments.
Theron is perfectly cast as the one-time pretty girl who never matured enough to understand the world outside. Instead, she wrote and created her own. Theron’s performance is raw and it evokes both a hatred and an endearing pity towards the character.
Young Adult is one of the best written and best performed films I’ve seen in some time. It mixes cynicism with deep-rooted pain. Ultimately, it’s easy to relate to, even for us ghosts who seemingly disappeared into the halls.
Young Adult Gallery
Young Adult Trailer
I disagree. I did not like the movie at all. There were some thought prevoking moments but in general it left me disappointed and sad even. I think of this movie as a small revenge on all the cool kids. When we were young and the popular mean girl became so hard to deal with the only thing your mom or older siblings could say was that someday she would get fat, or end up unhappy or never find themself. This movie makes me feel like Diablo Cody had some issues with the popular girls and hoped this is what happened to them. Even the way she made the main character “Stay the same” and never looking/acting any older. Like that bad girl froze in time and her life sucked and will always suck. In real life that doesn’t happen. The most popular kids from high school are married, have great careers, beautiful families and while some of the guys have gotten heavier and one or two of the school sluts gained a bunch of weight in their butts for the most part their high school career followed them through college and life. There were no moments where they had a revelation about who they were in school. They did grow up and most are really nice (some are just rude weird people), which is the worst revenge. Their lives are great and they are too.
I related to the narration in her head the entire time, I write as well and live my entire life narrating whatever book I am writing through out the day. That appealed to me and made me realize a lot of writers probably do that and I had never thought of it before. Also I liked that the nerd from school ended up still being a nerd yet very cool and down to Earth, like most of the kids from high school that weren’t cool enough to hang out with then but are friends with you once you really grow up.
I think I can not get past Charlize charactr. I hate her, like really really hate her and there isn’t anything redeeming about her. Even in her break down moments all I saw was a bitch that was sad. She was so conceited and self absorbed that if I met anyone that acted like her I would have called her out on it, like NO ONE would in this flick. Except the nerd who was pretty great. Yes, the acting was raw, yes the actors in this were realistic in their responses (for the most part) but there were a few times I felt like the actors didn’t even know what they were supposed to be feeling or how to respond so they kind of just recited lines and moved around. It was supposed to be so real it was uncomfortable, I get that but it felt more like a bunch of people who would never really interact in normal life anyway. I don’t have to relate to movies but I could not relate at all! I spent the entire thing hating on people, watching people make stupid choices and no one really learning anything. Everyone remained a jerk, oblivious, under rated, stupid, pretty, ect.
Hated it, hated her and I like almost everything. Also when I returned the video the people next to me said,”OMG, that movie made me so mad, just stupid.” And the guy behind the counter agreed and said it always gets a complaint. While I am NEVER one to agree/disagree with the general population, on this I join the mob 😉
Great points and fair enough. I can’t say I “liked” any of the characters but there was enough depth to them to make them feel very real (or realistic, depending on how you look at it).