'Young Adult' Movie Review

The Bottom Line Should you see it? Yes. Why?In two words: Charlize Theron. On the surface, Young Adult may seem very similar to Diablo Cody's debut film, Juno, also directed by Jason Reitman. As in Juno, Young Adult centers its story around a female character whose many quirks serve as comic relief from a cringe-worthy storyline. Look deeper, however, and it becomes clear there is much more to Young Adult than what appears onscreen. This 94-minute character-study features a masterful...Read Full Story

Director Jason Reitman (Son of Ivan Reitman, a pretty well known director himself) has made some of the most easily digestible, yet incredibly smart films of the past few years. He has an impressive level of discernment when choosing projects and a penchant for protagonists who are hard to like but impossible to resist. His first film, Thank You for Smoking (2005), is about a big tobacco spokesman who spends as much time lying and spinning as he does trying to be a good father to his twelve...Read Full Story

Ever since “Juno,” people have put Diablo Cody on a pedestal. I liked “Juno.” It was witty, heart-warmingly quirky, had some great characters with take-no-shit attitude and it had a killer soundtrack. Buth then she made “Jennifer’s Body”…. which was, to be frank, shit. It was here that I began to worry that Cody would be a one hit wonder, but she reeled me back in with the ambitious dark comedy series “United States of Tara.” Though in all fairness, she shouldn’t get all the credit for that...Read Full Story

"Young Adult" is the second film collaboration between Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, who wrote the script for his 2007 hit "Juno." Their collaboration earned Cody an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Reitman a nomination for Best Director. Reitman was also nominated for three Academy Awards for his work on "Up in the Air." "I truly loved the film and you feel like an idiot but you have to just acknowledge it and do that thing where you're like, 'I have to tell you how much I love that...Read Full Story

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) in Young Adult. Better than BachmannBy Don SimpsonMeet Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), a horrible person whose life is falling apart. First and foremost, her career as a ghost writer for a young adult serial has come to an abrupt end. Oh, and she is also divorced. So, in order to restart her seemingly failed life, Mavis leaves Minneapolis to visit Mercury, the hick suburban hellhole of a town where she grew up. Essentially, Mavis wants to relive her teenage years...Read Full Story