YOUNG ADULT DVD (2011)
SYNOPSIS: Academy Award winner Charlize Theron stars as Mavis Gary, a 37 year old former prom queen and current writer of young adult novels who returns home to relive her glory days and win back her now married high school sweetheart. When she finds her homecoming more challenging than expected, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate and both must face the harsh realities of growing up.
MOVIE REVIEW:
At times, even with an acclaimed director and a marquee name onboard doesn’t guarantee a release on our shore. “Young Adult” is a perfect example.
Oscar winner Charlie Theron returns to the big screen after a short hiatus as Mavis Gray, a divorcee, down-and-out ghost writer of young adult books. Coming across an email announcing the birth of his daughter from his ex, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson from “Little Children”), Mavis decides to travel back to her hometown, Mercury to win back Buddy whom she truly believes they should be together.
Get it? A divorcee trying to woo back her ex-now happily married boyfriend. The latest movie from Jason Reitman (“Juno”, “Up In The Air”) and his frequent collaborator, writer Diablo Cody is a painful journey of a walking train wreck. Thrown in a little midlife crisis and you know Mavis Gray needs a lot of therapy. It’s painful to watch Mavis shamelessly trying to get back into Buddy’s good book, she did her hair and manicure and tried everything but forgetting the fact that her past relationship with Buddy is over for the latter. Seriously, there’s nothing funny watching a person going downhill and no the occasional dark humour doesn’t help either. However watching Mavis insisting on signing her own books to the dismay of the bookstore sales rep only proves Cody’s trademark humour is still kicking and alive.
Fortunately, the introduction of the character, Matt Freehauf (played by Patton Oswalt who is famous for his voice talent in “Ratatouille”) helps to keep things afloat as he is probably the only sane voice in Mavis’ life. Freehauf is the high school classmate (unknown to Mavis at that time because she is a hot property) of Mavis and despite facing an abusive and life-threatening episode in his life; Freehauf offers some really tough life-lessons for Mavis.
Probably, most viewers are going to get uncomfortable with Mavis’ antics in “Young Adult” as this is neither a feel-good rom-com nor a dark comedy to laugh about which of course brought up the question why it’s not commercially viable to be release in the first place. Theron’s performance as Mavis is classy to say the least. She is practically flawless as the gorgeously-looking terrible person that everyone disliked. The other noteworthy performance belongs to Patton Oswalt who portrays the poignant geek boy.
If you are a fan of Reitman and Cody’s past works and love watching angry people making questionable decisions, then this drama about dysfunctional characters might make an interesting talking point during your lunch break.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
It’s a pity writer Diablo Cody did not participate in this commentary track instead we haveDirector Jason Reitman, Director of Photography Eric Steelberg and First Assistant Director/Associate Producer Jason A. Blumenfeld who offered the usual shooting anecdotes in Filmmakers’ Commentary.
Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman discuss the process of shooting a particular scene set in a bar in The Awful Truth: Deconstructing A Scene.
Unless you crave to see more of Mavis and her dog, Dolce, you probably won’t bother too much about these three Deleted Scenes.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The DVD transfer liked the movie is not a flashy showcase but does its job conveying the mood, shades and facial detail. Flashy doesn’t belong to the audio transfer as well as “Young Adult” offers only a clear audio track and some light ambient sound effects.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
