LOGLINE: Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), an alcoholic and washed up Young Adult genre ghost writer who heads out of the city into her rural Minnesota hometown with plans to steal former high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) away from his happy home with wife and new baby. The story is a dark comedy that rarely if ever leaves the dark side.
Audience members looking for the same cutesy smootsy dialogue found in Juno, Reitman and Cody's last team-up, will be sadly disappointed. Even with a solid performance by Theron, Cody's messy script leaves her character without any redemptive qualities, and never gives the audience a chance to rout for her. She is broken, uncaring and a grown up spoiled brat....the worst kind of spoiled brat.
'YA' eases into the story like an old man dipping into a warm bath, but finally picks up when Mavis runs into an old classmate that she doesn't remember Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) at the local dive bar. Oswalt delivers a dynamite performance as the loser always looking at the in crowd from the outside. Those who saw Oswalt knock it out of the park in 2009's Big Fan won't be surprised by the performance, but those only familiar with Oswalt's scene stealing scenes in the popular comedy sitcom King of Queens are likely to be happily surprised. Oscar season should have a Best Supporting Actor nomination waiting for Oswalt.
Even strong direction from Reitman and solid performances by Theron, Oswalt, Wilson and a quietly great outing by Elizabeth Reaser as the new wife, can't save the story from derailing. The story leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, and the sad realization that sometimes bad people never change.
For more quick reviews check out www.FilmStallion.com
Audience members looking for the same cutesy smootsy dialogue found in Juno, Reitman and Cody's last team-up, will be sadly disappointed. Even with a solid performance by Theron, Cody's messy script leaves her character without any redemptive qualities, and never gives the audience a chance to rout for her. She is broken, uncaring and a grown up spoiled brat....the worst kind of spoiled brat.
'YA' eases into the story like an old man dipping into a warm bath, but finally picks up when Mavis runs into an old classmate that she doesn't remember Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) at the local dive bar. Oswalt delivers a dynamite performance as the loser always looking at the in crowd from the outside. Those who saw Oswalt knock it out of the park in 2009's Big Fan won't be surprised by the performance, but those only familiar with Oswalt's scene stealing scenes in the popular comedy sitcom King of Queens are likely to be happily surprised. Oscar season should have a Best Supporting Actor nomination waiting for Oswalt.
Even strong direction from Reitman and solid performances by Theron, Oswalt, Wilson and a quietly great outing by Elizabeth Reaser as the new wife, can't save the story from derailing. The story leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, and the sad realization that sometimes bad people never change.
For more quick reviews check out www.FilmStallion.com