Shale
...is a Chamber Royal.
Join date : 2010-09-27
Location : Miami Beach
Posts : 9699
Rep : 219
 | | Subject: Young Adult Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:57 pm | |
| Young Adult
Movie Blurb by Shale
December 18, 2011
Well, our local critic liked this movie, as did 81% of the aggregate critics on Rottentomatoes and 72% of audiences. I did not like it. I wasn't really planning to see this movie, but the hype drew me in to this "dark comedy." I never saw the comedy, just pathos.
Our protagonist is Mavis (Charlize Theron) and in the first scene (without training in psychiatry) I diagnosed her as depressed. We would later learn that she has a bit of OCD, Trichotillomania (pulling out her hair) is an alcoholic and is delusional. Maybe I have worked too long in the psych field to find humor in such a person.
Mavis is a writer of young adult novels (no vampires) and is on a downward spiral. She was raised in small town Mercury MN and had escaped to Minneapolis. She was one of the pretty girls in high school and perhaps misses all the adulation that pretty girls get at that age. She is now an attractive woman but in a much larger herd.
Mavis the Author Signing her Book (in the clearance bin)
Upon getting an e-mail that her high school beau Buddy (Patrick Wilson) has fathered a child she deludes herself that he can't possibly be happy trapped in Mercury. So, off to win back her onetime BF who to the sane ppl around town is a happily married new father.
Buddy & His Stalker
While drinking at an old hangout in town she runs into another old high school classmate, Matt (Patton Oswalt) whose locker was next to hers but whom she never noticed. She only recognizes him when she sees his crutch and realizes he was the victim of a hate crime when a bunch of jocks nearly beat him to death because they thot he was gay. Now a cripple, with a bent penis he limps around small town making a living in an office and doing nerd stuff.
Mavis drunkenly tells Matt her plan to ruin Buddy's marriage and win him back and Matt quite honestly tells her how messed up she is. Up to this point I am still waiting for some comedic moment, some insightful admiration of the simple bent guy and finding some self-worth in herself. But the hour and a half was up and the movie ended.
If you don't live or work with crazy, self-absorbed ppl you might be one of that 72% who likes this movie. I feel like I need another day off from work.
(And I fairly resent them using a variation of my motto in their advert. "Everyone gets old. Not everyone grows up." It is not about maturity but about caring for others.) | |
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JWF
…is an Up 'N Comer.
Join date : 2010-03-02
Posts : 203
Rep : 4
| | Subject: Re: Young Adult Tue Dec 20, 2011 6:56 pm | |
| Very rarely will you see a film with Charlize Theron that isn't well acted. "Young Adult" is no exception. She is deserving of a Golden Globe nomination. Considered one of the most beautiful actresses, who has the acting ability to play many different roles (see "Monster").
Considering that Diablo Cody ("Juno" ) scripted the film, with Jason Reitman as the director ("Up in the Air" I was expecting more. The plot is a bit too conceived and predictable.
Mavis (Theron) is a 37 year-old writer of young adult novels who travels back to her hometown (Mercury Minn) to reclaim her high school lover (Patrick Wilson), who just happens to be happily married, with a young child. Unfortunately, life isn't as easy as written in a book. Along the way she makes an unusual friendship with another classmate (a wonderful Patton Oswait), who has his own problems. The story is about being happy. A happiness Mavis hasn't felt since high-school. And perhaps, she can rekindle it just by returning to Buddy (Wilson) who made her happy back then.
For the most I found myself enjoying the film, withstanding its narrative limits
B
Jack | |
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