Director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, the duo behind 2007's hit Juno, have teamed up again for Young Adult. The film tells the story of Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), a ghostwriter for a young adult book series, who abandons her wrecked life in Minneapolis to travel back to her small hometown to win back her high school sweetheart, Billy Slade (Patrick Wilson). Foiling Mavis' plans; however, are Billy's loyalty to his wife, Beth (Elizabeth Reaser), and newborn daughter and Mavis' own compulsions, alcoholism and other self-destructive behavior. Still, Mavis finds herself in a burgeoning friendship with former classmate Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), left disabled by an unfounded gay bashing their senior year.
According to screenwriter Diablo Cody,
Young Adult is her answer to the proliferation of the man-child in movies, such as
Knocked Up and other Judd Apatow vehicles. Although Mavis exemplifies the same type of arrested development as her male counterparts, she doesn't revel in it like they do. Mavis isn't allowed to enjoy her life, even when stripped of all responsibility to other people. When not disguising her insecurities through alcohol and loveless one-night stands, she blankly watches reality television, ignores her designer dog, and struggles to finish the last book in its series, which will effectively bring her thankless job to a close. When put in the context of her lonely, gray life in Minneapolis, her nostalgia-driven pursuit of her former love almost makes sense. But too little changes when she arrives back home to reclaim him.
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