Film Review: ‘Young Adult’ & a Q&A with Patton Oswalt, Diablo Cody & Jason Reitman

Ever since attending a pop-up screening of Young Adult Saturday night, I have been vacillating between like and dislike for the new Jason Reitman film. I’ve been sorting through those likes and dislikes. Since I still haven’t come to a conclusion on whether or not I like the film, instead of a standard review, I’m going to map out my thought process. Sort of.

But first, watch the trailer so you know what Young Adult is about.

Great trailer, right? Okay, on with the review!

Likes (in no particular order):

Charlize Theron. She played a bitch. Like one of the ultimate asshole bitches that you will do anything to avoid. But since, asshole bitches are human beings as well, they DO have vulnerable sides. Theron embodied every facet of this character, the bitchiness, conceit, depression and vulnerability. Theron was the perfect choice for this kind of character. I don’t think anyone else could have played this character as well as Theron did. Major kudos to Mr. Reitman on that decision.
The chemistry between Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt. The best scenes in the movie are between these two people. Mavis and Matt come from different backgrounds, but they’re both damaged. That mutuality between them leads to a friendship. It’s the most touching part of the film, watching them bicker or come to terms with who they are. Theron and Oswalt typically don’t “look” right together, but from the moment they meet at that bar, they had that instant chemistry. BEST part of the film, hands down.
Jason Reitman’s direction. This isn’t my favorite Jason Reitman film. That honor still belongs to Up in the Air. But he did a really fine job directing this film. He was able to interpret Diablo Cody’s script in a way that made you not flat-out hate Mavis at the end. With a story like this, that’s very important. Plus, I always enjoyed Jason’s style of filmmaking. I love the little bits where he shows the old cassette being inserted and rewinding, when Mavis was listening to an old mixtape.
This wasn’t a tale of redemption. Like Diablo Cody said at the Q&A: “I have this theory that assholes don’t actually change.” Very true.
Dialogue. If there’s one thing you can count Diablo Cody on, it’s great, witty dialogue. There were a lot of funny jokes and moments. Although the humor was pretty dark, it did bring some lightness to the film.

Dislikes (in no particular order):

Mavis. (Yeah, go figure.) She’s not a likable character at all. There’s no way to really relate with her, but we can try to understand her. For me, I still have a little trouble understanding her. It might be my own personal bitterness from dealing with real people like her that may make me not want to understand her. I’ve come to realize that what’s stopping me from liking this movie is the main character. It’s something that I can’t get over. (That goes to show how fabulous of an actress Charlize Theron is.) By the end, I didn’t get the full understanding that I wanted. I didn’t want her to redeem herself because, frankly, I don’t think she is someone who could change. We got tidbits of why she turned into a depressed alcoholic. There were many instances where I did feel sorry for her. But then, the next moment she did something terrible. Maybe if there was just a little more clarity as to why she was the way was and I would’ve felt more satisfied with the ending.

I know it speaks volumes when someone can’t determine whether or not they liked a film right away. I honestly think films like Young Adult are the exception to that. It’s a courageous film to make in Hollywood. It’s a story about a very unlikable character with no redemption arc. It’s not a big moneymaker, blockbuster thing. It doesn’t make you feel happy at the end. So after all of this, I think I’m going to walk away from this review saying that I did like this film. All the likes greatly outweigh the one big dislike. I suggest seeing this film when it comes out in December. It’s going to have a presence during awards season. I can’t see Charlize Theron not getting an Oscar nod for this performance. I also recommend it because I’m curious to see how others react to this film, specifically the main character.

Young Adult opens in select theaters on December 16^th.

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Q&A with star Patton Oswalt, writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman

As promotion for Young Adult, screenings of the film have been popping up in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. With the screenings came some of the talent for a Q&A and unique poster art was given to the audience. In Chicago, we were given the cool poster above and writer Diablo Cody, director Jason Reitman and star Patton Oswalt were in attendance. Without the Q&A, I wouldn’t have been able to evaluate this film as clearly as I could have. They really gave some great insight on the story and Mavis. I definitely recommend watching what they had to say in the videos below! Also, click here to see more pictures from the Q&A on our Facebook page!

Thanks for watching!

Gabrielle Bondi

Gabrielle founded The Young Folks in 2010 with Luciana Villalba. Since then, she has served as editor-in-chief and oversees the staff and editorial content on The Young Folks. She recently graduated from Northwestern University and is now working on her master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism.