Young Adult: Review By thedude-abides

If Jennifer's Body was any indication of what good directing, or in its case bad directing, can do for a script, then fans of Diablo Cody should find solace in the fact that Young Adult finds her at last reunited with her Juno cohort, director Jason Reitman. This time, however, without the same results.

Though Reitman does all he can with the material, Cody's script is as bare as Mavis Gary's womb in her latest authorship starring Charlize Theron. Theron stars as Mavis Gary (Oscar nom forthcoming), thirty-something writer of young adult literature who, tired of spending her lonely nights in the arms of unfamiliar lovers, returns to her hometown to try and rekindle her relationship with her high school sweetheart, a now-married father of one played by Patrick Wilson.

Theron's performance is captivating to say the least. As Mavis Gary, Theron is able to project an aura of bitchiness surrounding her character experienced by all those to ever walk the halls of their high school not dressed in the traditional, in-crowd garb of tight jeans and letterman jackets. Everyone, at some point, has encountered a Mavis Gary. The brilliance in Theron's performance comes in the fact that she is able to play such a dislikable character, one we are all familiar with, and yet have us rooting for her the entire time, even in the midst of attempting to Jolie a man away from his wife.

It could be argued that Cody's writing is the most identifiable to its author's hand outside of anyone in the world not named Quentin Tarantino. Her unique dialogue and apparent affinity for tiramisu notwithstanding, Cody's script delivers in terms of dialogue, but leaves no room for anything of actual substance. Nothing that happens in the story acc*mulates to anything. It's almost as if she were painting a series of dots, only to never come back and connect them. Instead, her story leaves us hanging on several critical aspects of the film that, much to our chagrin, are never even addressed, much less revisited.

On top of that, there is zero gratification for the audience. Even when Theron's character is trying to steal another woman's husband, she doesn't try to seduce him, or get close to him by befriending his wife. Instead, the audience is treated to an innocent barrage of "How ya been?" at sports bars and baby showers that progresses at a flatline pace until the film's conclusion, which like so many others that have come out this year, isn't so much a conclusion as it is a convenient time to roll the end credits.

Making the absolute most of Cody's script, director Jason Reitman is reminiscent of the lone man in the boat as it's taking on water, quickly shoveling out as much as he can in order to prevent the whole thing from going under. From the onset, it was clear he was working with material that was beneath his level of talent. Though he did a more than commendable job with what he had to work with, it was clear after Juno and Up In the Air that he was ready to take the next step forward in his career, when at best this was a lateral move. In the end, Theron's performance aside, he was the only thing that kept the film afloat.

Overall the film is a success, but only a minor one. Leaving the only lesson to be taken away from Young Adult being an example of why it's important never to dwell on the past. Too bad Cody and Reitman never got the memo.