MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Young Adult  Rated R

Directed by Jason Reitman.  Starring Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt

Photo: Paramount Studios
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Every time I attend a high school reunion – which isn’t all that often – I find myself thinking about the life choices that I have made and how they have made me what I am today.  I also have a chance to reconnect with high school friends, only to realize that I really don’t have all that much in common with them anymore, except the memories of high school days.  There are always the kids that stayed in town, got married and settled down (sometimes after a divorce or two) and the kids who left town and did just about the same thing.

And some people grow up while others never do, stuck in a perpetual adolescence.  Arrested development in males seems to be a popular theme in mainstream movies, primarily because it keeps adult comedy actors employed in roles where they get to act like college students.

To its credit, Young Adult depicts two persons in their thirties who refuse to grow up but aren’t having such a great time.  Mavis (Theron) has moved from Mercury, a Minnesota suburb, to the big city of Minneapolis, where she lives the single life as a ghostwriter for young adult fiction.  Her apartment is a pit and she is constantly drinking Diet Coke from two-liter bottles or knocking back glasses of Makers Mark whiskey.  After a recent divorce Mavis decides to come home to hook up with Buddy (Patrick Wilson), a former boyfriend who is now happily married and whose wife is planning a baby shower.

The minute she hits town she is recognized in a bar by Matt Freehauf (Oswalt), an unpopular classmate whose locker was next to hers in high school.  Matt suffered a permanent disability twenty years ago as a victim of a hate crime, but takes it all in stride, living with his sister, working in town, building model kits and brewing homemade moonshine in his garage.  When Matt sees what Mavis is up to, he speaks honestly to her, becoming the voice of conscience.  These two people who would never think of talking to one another in high school become two lost and lonely souls, connected by their sadness.

Because Theron and Oswalt are so good in their roles, the dialogue by Diablo Cody (who wrote Juno) is smart and clever, and Jason Reitman is a great director, it was only after I left the theater that I realized that Young Adult really didn’t add up to much of anything.  There is no convincing back-story to help us understand why Mavis is the way she is; she’s tragic, but at one time was somewhat successful as a writer.  What went wrong?  And too much time has passed between high school and graduation; everyone in town knows that Mavis is a train wreck, so there is no real dramatic tension or possibility for subterfuge.  And there’s not much hope, either.

That may be the point that Diablo Cody is making in Young Adult.  You can’t go home again, and you certainly can’t go home again living off of high school memories.  Unless you stayed in town, of course.  Townies can live off of that stuff forever.  

Pitchfork/Halo Ratings:

Two halos: An interesting film for what it is, which isn’t much – an observational character study with few revelations or things to say.

Three pitchforks: Swearing, alcoholism, casual sex and obnoxious behavior.

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