MOVIE REVIEW - Young Adult

I love movies that say something. It's a trait that is attempted by many, but successful by few. The new Young Adult starring Charlize Theron has a loud, amplified social message that will resonate through, and land with a whole lot of people.

Young Adult is the story of Mavis (Theron). Mavis is a 37 year old divorced woman who lives in Minneapolis. She is from a very small town called Mercury, Minnesota. She is a ghost writer of a teen book series for young adults. She is probably the most immature, irresponsible, less than grown up person you can imagine. She is living in some kind of high school time warp and her mental growth stopped about 1993. It also appears that she may be living through the fictional stories she writes. She decides to go back to her hometown and try to rekindle her high school romance with her ex boyfriend from 20 years ago. Problem is, he is happily married and has a newborn baby.

Mavis goes to great drunken lengths to reconnect with him, and has no real sense of any kind of reality or decency. Mavis has retreated from the world because she can. There is nothing adult about her. She is seen as a pathetic has been by all of her ex-school mates who cross paths with her. You begin to wonder if she is mentally ill, or what her exact mental malady is. But in the end you must decide if she is ill, or just so incredibly immature that she may never really become a functioning adult. And moreover, why is she this way? It is a question worth asking, as she is not all that rare in today's world.

Theron is simply fantastic. She is the very rare combination of beauty, and trash all at the same time. Her Oscar winning performance in Monster a few years ago was proof positive of that. And she relives that magic here. Theron is very funny, and despicable all at the same time. She is so convincing as this completely detached young woman, who is so self involved that the world around her has grown up and left her behind. She is staggeringly good, and is representative of the perception of many young adults today. I think most fans will point to the screen and picture someone they know of. This is Oscar-worthy. Hard to overestimate how good she is here. Although she is aided by a compelling story, and equally good writing.

This movie is very skillfully done it's almost scary. Mavis is so bold and out of touch, you almost feel uncomfortable in your seat for her and everyone else in many scenes. This is loud, and I mean loud social commentary of some young adults today it's almost deafening. It's a story for our times, and blazes a new trail of more that I am sure to come. It's tidy, a quick 90 minutes with an Indy-feel music soundtrack, and a story you don't know with message sent.

Young Adult. Theron is great, great! And so is this movie. It's bold a risk taking and one of the years best.