Young Adult
I feel reminded of “Elizabethtown” at times. In the Hollywood world, the “person goes back to hometown” premise somehow always involves a serious backstory and some almost tear-jerking drama, at least there will be tears for the main character in question. (Does this mean “Sweet Home Alabama” is serious too? Hmmm, probably not.) I expected a fluffy, cute rom-com with “Elizabethtown” but instead got Susan Sarandon tap-dancing in the honor of her dead husband. That was quite a surprise! With “Young Adult”, I was significantly less surprised even though I decided to watch the film after seeing the trailer, which totally suggests otherwise. Somehow my gut feeling told me that Charlize Theron’s main character is in for a lot of misery, and that this will not always be funny.
More precisely, the film is never really funny at all. If there is any black humor in this film, I don’t quite see it. There is no English word for “Fremdschämen” (to be embarrassed for what somebody else does) nor the word “Schadenfreude” (well the English word for that is schadenfreude). I am surprised that fremdschämen never got picked up as a term, as its context very well exists in the Anglosaxan culture (think “Curb your enthusiasm”). Mavis is a perfect example of that. I think the film got its message just right – we feel terrible for what she does and feel the aforementioned schadenfreude when things don’t go the way her selfish mind wants. I never thought the film was depressing – maybe the main character was depressed, but for us as the audience, there is this constant feeling that the bitch deserves it. At the same time we care about her, we are intrigued by her deep characterization, we want to know why she became that way (well, the miscarriage explains a few things later on, but never why she was a terrible, whoring high school bitch in the first place) and we are anxious whether she ever is able to get out of her life pattern. If anything, “Young Adult” is a wonderful character study, with Mavis being one of the most interesting protagonists I have seen in awhile. Ever since “Monster”, I have loved Charlize Theron’s acting and she does it again in this film.
Nevertheless, there is a bitter aftertaste left in my mouth when I see the film as a whole. As much as I think that the portrayal of Mavis is marvelous, I am doubtful of the portrayal of the city people itself. First of all, everybody besides Patton Oswalt’s character is awfully boring and stereotypical. As such a stereotype, the film gives you the impression that everybody is an idiot in high school and needs to grow up into something like the Buddy-Beth couple, with their baby and their small town happiness. Sure, you have no business barging into another happy couple’s relationship, especially with a new baby. But does it make that happy couple any better? The film shows us many aspects of why a small town like that is rather despicable (Mavis’ parents are absolutely unsupportive, the town is gossiping about Mavis, Beth shows pity towards Mavis but not much consideration), yet it makes sure that everyone in the small town, including Mavis’ own parents, can continue living on happily ever after. Normally I say “live and let live”, but in this case I am not sure. Sure, looking at Mavis with pity and disdain is probably well-deserved, but simply taking into account Matt’s perspective shows how shallow these small town people are after all. They are not a bunch of innocent lovelies whose paradise need to be protected, yet the film is doing precisely that. This odd ambiguity about the townspeople make me wonder about the film, and thus like it much less than “Juno” where pretty much everybody evolved into something better.
As always, the star of this film is the little dog. Actually I thought it died of negligeance for a second, but boy am I glad he didn’t. Overall, I am not surprised that “Young Adult” is Jason Reitman’s least successful film so far. It has a wonderful main character and its story is well-written, but some things just don’t really add up. This may be personal, but I can never fully endorse nor like a film which celebrates small town mentality. (Fine, “Groundhog Day” may be an exception but that film is just too delightful and cute.)
PS. Sigh, I wish I could write like James Poniewozik. I also would like to watch movies on the job.