Young Adult

Just the other week, I was thinking: "What has happened to Charlize Theron; what is she up to?"  Well my question has been answered, and it's in the form of "Young Adult", not that I thought she fell off the end of the Earth.

Mavis Gary (Theron) is a successful writer of young adult literature who, shortly after a divorce, returns to her hometown, Mercury, Mn., outside of Minneapolis, with a dual mission: to relive her glory days and steal away her now-married with a new baby high-school sweetheart, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). However, her mission doesn't go exactly as planned. and she finds her homecoming more problematic than she expected. Instead, Mavis forms an unusal bond with a former classmate, Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), who has also found it difficult to move past high school.

Others to round out the cast are Elizabeth Reaser as Beth Slade, Buddy's loving wife, Collette Wolfe as Sandra Freehauf, Matt's lonely, insecure sister, Jill Eikenberry and Richard Bekins as Hedda and David Gary, Mavis' parents, Mary Beth Hurt as Jan, and Louisa Krause as the front desk girl.

This was painstakingly well directed by Jason Reitman ("Thank You for Smoking" '05, "Juno" '07, "Up in the Air" '09). This guy doesn't have a lot of films in his resume, but the films he has done have been high-quality. He proves that quantity doesn't always equate with quality. His pacing in this to keep you on that edge is well crafted. This was equally well written by Diablo Cody ("Juno" '07, "Jennifer's Body" '09, "Tight" (video short) '10). She definitely deserved her Oscar for best screenplay directly written for the screen for "Juno". This film has that same feel to it, except this was a little more dramatic than Juno. Don't get me wrong, they both were comedy/drama, but the comedy is more subtle.

Theron has proven herself as a talented actor what with her Oscar for best actress for "Monster", but in this, she has proven she can equally perform comedy, even if it is subtle. Her transformation from feeling she is just an insecure, manipulative, sociopathic, husband-stealer to this incredibly hurt, insecure, lonely, individual was not only well crafted, writing wise, but equally carried out as far as Theron's acting ability was concerned. The wring and acting surely will be nominated for Oscars this year.

This is not a warm and fuzzy feeling film, but if you are seeking out talented acting, well-crafted writing and directing along with an interesting story including hurt, discovery, self-loathing, fear, self-absorption, and the like, you'll really get into this one.

Out of 4 stars: 4                        Rated: R                          94min.