Suspended adolescence

Somewhere along the way, Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) just gave up. But how did she wind up here, living in a high-rise apartment in Minneapolis, waking up seemingly every morning in a hungover stupor to an unwritten page of drippy fiction for high school kids?

Over the course of Young Adult's brisk hour-and-a-half, we learn all about Mavis, and we learn a little more about writer Diablo Cody, too. Mostly, though, we learn to appreciate Charlize Theron's surprisingly immutable sense of dark comedy. This film allows her to take the sort of risks with comedy she already has with heavy-hitting drama.

Mavis is more than a subpar writer with an alcohol problem (because how clich is that?). She's damaged goods, perpetually looking over her shoulder for her misspent potential to sneak back into her life. Rather than address her downward spiral head on, she chooses another path. When her ex-boyfriend's wife sends a mass e-mail announcing the birth of their daughter, Mavis heads home to show Buddy (Patrick Wilson) what he's been missing out on all these years. Her strategy, in essence, is to steal a happily married man from his wife and infant child.

On her first night in mythical Mercury, Minn., Mavis runs into another old classmate at a bar. At first, she doesn't remember Matt (Patton Oswalt), but then it dawns on her that, as a senior, Matt was bludgeoned within an inch of his life by the school jocks because everyone thought he was gay. Fun times. A few drinks into a night full of them, Mavis begins to see a kindred spirit in Matt, perhaps because they are both defined, at least internally, by what happened in high school.

Their rather unconventional relationship becomes the heart of Young Adult, albeit a cold one. We do learn why Mavis can't seem to let go of the past, specifically her past with Buddy, but in a cutting, well-written comedy, it's the worst-handled bit of business.

After the success of Juno, Diablo Cody became a popular punchline for he! r esoter ic style and slacker characters. But reteamed with Juno director Jason Reitman, she delivers potent comedy with none of Juno's artificial aftertaste. That's not to say this is the better film, just that you don't have to personally know Diablo Cody to get some of the language being thrown around.

The big takeaway, though, is Charlize Theron. She has, over and over again, demonstrated she doesn't mind being ugly onscreen. She'll add weight, pile on prosthetics and portray almost irredeemable people because it's more interesting. Mavis Gary is just a bitch when we meet her, and no amount of looking like Charlize Theron could change that. Even after Cody plays her hand, we still don't like Mavis. We may understand her better, but she's still a wreck of her own making. Unlike Matt, she hasn't been able to accept where she is the way she can where she was. But to her credit, Theron is in on all the jokes, including the ones at her own character's expense.

Young Adult Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, directed by Jason Reitman, rated R, 94 mins