Young Adult

Ooof, this movie hurt. I mean, it really hurt. It was one of those stories that is painful to watch yet you can't look away. It's helpful to watch this hungover, because watching someone feel and act worse than you is very sobering.

Mavis Gary is a 37 year old alcoholic divorcee living in Minneapolis ghost writing a newly-canceled young adult series. Her solitary existence is shaken after receiving an email from her high school flame, Buddy Slade announcing the birth of his infant daughter. She decides to rekindle this romance, oblivious and unrelenting against his current marital status and induction into fatherhood. She's an unwelcome presence in her small town of Mercury, Minnesota turning heads and receiving eye rolls at her obvious mission to steal back Buddy.

Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody, it retained the whit and sarcasm we've come to  know and love in these dynamically-charged dialog quips. Charlize Theron easily and seamlessly plays Mavis, a beautiful yet aging emotional wreck, capable of both instilling empathy among her viewers yet supreme hatred all at once. Along the way, she meets Matt Freehauf played by Patton Oswalt,  a fellow high school student whom she did not remember. Matt, unlike most people who hide their high school scars, is reminded of his past on a daily basis. Back in high school he was cruelly beaten by fellow classmates for being an assumed homosexual and left for dead. They disfigured his legs and manly bits, leaving him forever damaged inside and out. The two begin what any great movie tagline would call, "an unlikely friendship" playing out the good cop-bad cop, horrible protagonist and lovable antagonist that you can smell a mile away. They do share some good one liners, (and many, many bottles of bourbon).

Seeing Mavis drive through her old town past Chili's, KFC and Staples made it completely and bitterly believable at what it's actually like to go back home. The scene were she rifles through left behind relics in her childhood bedroom looking at mix tapes, scrunchies and photos is so real and so sad. Mavis's life hasn't exactly gone as she planned, yet we never actually find out what was planned. She was the most popular and beautiful girl in school and now her life is in a tailspin. (I watched this thinking and hoping that all of the beautiful, popular girls I went to high school with were all dealing with these things now but, sadly, according to Facebook they're all doing just fine.) Her mission to win back Buddy is both out of the blue and completely unfounded or based in anything closely resembling normal behavior. Of course we learn there's a lot more to it than that, after Mavis reveals that she's emotionally damaged, depressed and turning to alcohol to both fix and mask these issues.

Her blatant and failed attempts at getting Buddy back blow up time and time again in her face. Matt finally asks her, (after a totally expected roll in the hay), "Why Buddy?" She says, "Because he was the one who knew me at my best." Matt points out that she wasn't her best back then. What's sad and obvious is that she's not at her best now either. Yet after a very public and explosive fight with Buddy's family, it's revealed that Mavis was pregnant with Matt's child at 20 years old and suffered a miscarriage. "This could've been me! I could've done all of this already but I didn't!" This explosion made me get her character but it was revealed about ten minutes away from the end credits and I had long since stopped caring. The plot just felt disjointed and lonely, sadly, like Mavis herself.

Yet it won me back in the final scene. Mavis wakes up in Matt's bed and walks upstairs to share a sobering cup of coffee with Matt's younger, geeky sister. "I need to change," Mavis gloomily says. "No you don't," Sandra says. "Fuck Mercury. You're great." Thinking that Mavis is capable of change, even for a brief moment, is shattered. She got what she was looking for the entire movie: acceptance and validation. She gets up from the table and doesn't look back. All of the things we're supposed to learn after high school is long over was lost on her. She remains the character she started as: beautiful, scarred and worthy of any and all undeserved praise.