Young Adult

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Plot:  Writer Mavis (Charlize Theron) is supposed to be finishing a pulp romance novel, when she finds her high school boyfriend Buddy (Patrick Wilson) just had a baby with his new wife. She jumps in her Mini Cooper and is off to win him back. When she gets there Matt has a drink with her, and she begins  work on getting him back. In a bar, she meets old high school friend Matt (Patton Oswalt,) who may be gay, and is now disabled.  She puts herself in increasing desperate, and embarrassing situations trying to break up his marriage. 

Review:  Young Adult is a light drama about how Mavis can't never grew up, and is reliving her high school life. She is upset that Buddy is living an adult life when she is still drinking hard and sleeping around.  Hard drinking Mavis keeps pushing until she becomes pathetic, and crashes. A lot of people never resolve their high school issues, just like Mavis. 

Diablo Cody's dialog is the best, and Charlize Theron facial acting is a great combination. Despite the gimmicky plot, most of the fun is the small gestures and intonations between two people. It can be very funny, but you have to like this kind of comic drama. 

Ultimately Mavis decides that she needs to grow up, and that produces a feel good ending. 

Charlize Theron should be considered for an Oscar.

Cast: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt

Directed by: Jason Reitman; written by Diablo Cody

Rating:   4.0 stars - fun to watch with a heart too; at first I thought only 3.5, but the more I think about the film, the more I like it. 

More: It looked like a Diablo Cody cameo on the TV in Mavis's hotel room. 

Even More: Mavis's poor neglected dog

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