YOUNG ADULT
From the the writer and director of JUNO, comes a second movie, also starring a strong female character. This time, however, the leading lady is strong in a vulgar, self destructive, hard-to-watch, kind of way.
Charlize Theron stars as Mavis Gary, a ghost writer for a shallow young adult series that is coming to an end. Mavis lives in Minneapolis, is recently divoraced, has a drinking problem, and an icky nervous habit of pulling her hair out, leaving her with a bald spot, covered by removable fake hair. Mavis is the definition of Hot Mess, and Theron plays the part perfectly, avoiding cliches and caricatures an giving Mavis the believability that makes her such an uncomfortable heroin to follow for 90 minuets. I say that in the best way, because YOUNG ADULT is a movie about pathetic, unlikable people. Similar to 1999's hilarious ELECTION, ADULT presents the mid-west in a less then flattering light. The best people in the movie are bland, boring, and settled. But healthy and happy, which is more then can be said for the majority of the characters.
The story goes like this: Mavis, nearing rock bottom, decided to return to her small town to win back her high school sweetheart, who is married and the father of a newborn baby. Mavis shrugs off these facts by explaining that she has baggage too. She returns home feeling confident that her "big city" lifestyle and long legs will win him back no problem. After all, she was prom queen, and has maintained her looks well, although it is clear she will go down hill one day, since her self destructive habits seem to increase as the movie continues. Her delusions last several days, as she throws herself at her ex, insults his wife (and nearly everyone else she encounters) and drinks herself to sleep every night, waking up morning after morning looking like she was hit by a car, and aimlessly wanders the town, trying to seem important, despite being clearly lost.
YOUNG ADULT is a comedy, but a very dark one. Many of the scenes are simply hard to watch, because of how embarrassing Mavis is, and how clueless she is at how inappropriate she is. The best laughs come from her, like when she has trouble remembering a former classmate until she see's his crutches and realizes he is "that hate crime guy! Why didn't you just say that!" referring to the time he got beat up by a bunch of jocks for being gay (which he is not) and is now crippled. The fact that Mavis see's no reason to be sensative to his situation is an example of her delusional, self involved self, and this is who we spend the entire movie with. Considering how unlikable our heroin is, it is not surprising many people find YOUNG ADULT off-putting, especially since the movie offers no indication of Mavis seeing the error of her ways, or becoming a better person.
So, what is the point of this movie? I took it as an analysis of a large part of our culture. When alone, Mavis always has the television on and she is always watching reality shows. To be specific she is watching The Kardashions and Hank and Kendra. Both times the clips are of rich, beautiful women complaining about superficial problems, similar in shallowness to Mavis. As a person Mavis has very few things going for her other then being beautiful and "cool", and drinking herself into a blackout every night is her coping mechanism for everything that is going wrong in her life. She lives in a delusional state that what she wants, she should have, and will have. It's the desire to live like a rich socialite that has run through so much of our pop culture in the last decade. Paris Hilton might be old news, but the Desperate Housewives are popular as ever, and I think writer Diablo Cody is basing Mavis around this mind set, that being rich and beautiful is more important than being conscientious of the people around you. Mavis wants to be pretty, desired, get everything she wants when she wants it, and not to worry about complicated issues. Just like she throws fake hair over her creepy bald spot without giving it another thought, she shrugs off any real responsibility with a shot and a cigarette. She has the lap dog, but it lives forgotten in her hotel room with a pee pad and bowl of water. She spends more time fake texting to look busy, then she does making any type of real human connection. Mavis is fake and beautiful, but her setting is small town Minneapolis, and she is a very hot mess.
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