Young Adult

Here's a sort-of movie review. Have you heard of Young Adult? It's still showing at a few theaters around Vegas, and it's definitely worth the trip past your regular movie watching destinations. The husbasaur and I saw it at Regal Village Square, which may be my favorite Vegas theater. They tend to show more foreign and indie movies (meaning they show some, and the only other place in Vegas that does this is the newish Theatre 7 downtown, as far as I know.)

So what's it about? Mostly Charlize Theron's character, Mavis, who despite that name was the It girl in high school. She's pushing 40, still gorgeous, but highly dysfunctional; she's a bit of an alcoholic, somewhat sociopathic, and her claim to fame is her ghost authorship of a superficial Y.A. Series that was once popular. Mavis spends her days sleeping, online shopping, and occasionally banging out a sentence or two for her latest work (essentially, she's me, if I were an author). Insipid reality shows are always playing in the background, hilighting the depressing futility of Mavis's life.

When she learns that her high school sweetheart is a new parent, happily married, Mavis leaves "the big city" (Minneapolis) for her hometown of Mercury, MN. There she strikes up a sweet, funny, offbeat friendship with Matt, the town geek, who walks with a cane due to a high school hate crime (played by Patton Oswalt [as Matt, not the hate crime personified]). Unfortunately, Mavis is really out to free her former heartthrob, Buddy, from his horribly stifling marriage to the woman he loves. She weasels her way into their lives and takes a tailspin toward utter insanity, trying to get what she wants.

Mavis is a difficult character to sympathize with, but I finally began to like her near the end. She reveals why she's been stuck behaving like a teenager for the past twenty years, and she takes the first steps toward growing up.

Because of the darkly hilarious exchanges between Mavis and Matt, the echo of real life, and the nod to Y.A. lit, I give Young Adult a quirky thumbs up. Go watch it, and stop by Sambalatte on the way for a Nutella cappuccino. Do it.