DVD review: Young Adult

Still from Young Adult.

By Jason JohnsonThe New PaperSunday, Aug 05, 2012

One of the funniest movies of last year. Then there's Charlize Theron. Yay!

There are those who think that girls aren't funny, more so if they are pretty.

Charlize Theron would be the exception to that rule if such a sentiment were in fact true.

Young Adult is one of the funniest movies of last year and Theron is the funniest person in it - a pretty great accomplishment, considering her co-star is Patton Oswalt, one of the most popular and respected comedians around.

She plays Mavis Gary, a writer of novels for girls. Divorced and rather miserable, she heads back to her hometown to seduce her high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson), who is married and has a newborn daughter.

Things do not go quite as planned and she ends up spending most of her time getting drunk with a handicapped nerdy ex-schoolmate (Oswalt), who still has a crush on her.

Young Adult was written by Diablo Cody, who is both famous and infamous for Juno.

Some thought Juno was the bee's knees while others didn't.

However you felt about Juno, which for the record was a huge success, Young Adult is much more conventional and naturalistic.

Cody remains mercilessly incisive, but her characters now come across as people rather than constructs...more or less.

Theron's performance is what you would call masterful.

Mavis is one of those girls so outlandishly beautiful that she's been able to get away with being offhandedly evil her entire life and Theron finds both the pathos and the humour in all that.

"Could you walk any slower?" she spits at her handicapped pal.

We somehow end up liking Mavis and the ending of the film - not giving anything away - is surprising and rather brave in the way it resolves her situation.

As for extras, there is a feature-length commentary with director Jason Reitman which is unusually informative.

Those interested in ma! king their own flicks will find some good tips.

There are also deleted scenes and a nice "making-of" that breaks down one particular bar scene in great detail.

This article was first published in The New Paper.