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However did Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman get the funding to make this film? It eschews so many of the conventional narrative tricks for character studies like this, namely our main character doesn’t appear to change much by the end. We’re stuck with a dark, sour, alcoholic woman whose personal highlights are behind her, and who has crystallized her power-bitch prom-queen persona into a frightening psyche. It’s not that Mavis is a terrible person that makes the film’s existence so shocking, but it’s how nonjudgmental about her character it all is.
In a more just year, Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt would have gotten Oscar nominations for their brave, ferocious and comedic work in this film. The flimsy concept that Young Adult rests its story structure upon makes the screenplay fall slave to it, but the performances manage to rise above and inject a true vitality to the material. Theron’s daily beautification after a night of binge drinking and not-cute-anymore party-going is fascinating to watch. Her commitment to looking rode hard and put away wet is great, especially since she never seems to have any boundary issues with her character’s reprehensible nature. Oswalt on the other hand has turned his chubby geek persona and minded it for depth of feeling. We view Mavis’ poor judgment and steely-eyed sociopathic behavior through him, and he never flinches in calling her on her bullshit. A scene late in the film in which he explains the day he was beaten badly in high school is shocking for both how well Oswalt performs it as dramatic actor, and how moving his inner anguish is shown onscreen.
Mavis’ last novel in a young adult book series is a cringe-inducing story-within-a-story device never gels with the rest of the film. It’s clear that this projected fantasy is how Mavis views herself and others as the story progresses, but it’s too clichéd for how daringly original the rest of the film is. Young Adult is a movie with a charred black heart at its center, and anytime it deviates from this it suffers. But Theron’s statuesque bitch and Oswalt’s handicapped angry nerd/Jiminy Crickett make the whole thing worth watching.
