Thursday
Oct062011
Yes, No, Maybe So: "Young Adult"
Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 8:56PM Last time director Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody got together they gave us Juno (2007). This combined effort won them millions at the box office and four Oscar nominations. Can they strike gold twice?
Cheers. Charlize Theron is a fierce funny bitch in "Young Adult"
Young Adult features Oscar winning glamazon Charlize Theron as "Mavis" who returns to her hometown to win back an old boyfriend who is now a happily married father. Everyone else knows this is a terrible idea.
YES
- A lying cheating amoral lead character who is a "psychotic prom queen bitch"? We're so there.
- Dogs in bags, black fingernail polish... love that she's a bit dated in her badass "coolness" but totally pleased with herself about it. You can't get a bead from these two minutes whether she's aware that she's "shocking" (see also: Liza in Cabaret) or if she's oblivious to her own crazy... but either way that'll be funny.
- Biggest LOL Moment: Mavis and the ugly baby. If the whole movie is that funny, it'll be a perennial you can watch on repeat.
- Love the disconnect in her conversations "I'm a married man." "We can beat this thing together!"
- Charlize's comedic talents rarely get such a work out so bring it on.
NO
- The trailer promises The Charlize Show, but one of Juno's strengths was its fully humanized supporting cast. This doesn't suggest any depth of focus at first glance beyond its showy lead. Will Charlize be enough?
- If Charlize ends up with Patton Oswalt, that's just going to be weird and yet totally pandering/typical of the movies where the über babes are always falling for guys who look like regular moviegoers.
MAYBE SO
- Jason Reitman's films are usually fairly impressive juggling acts with dramatic and comedic balls up in the air (sorry) constantly. This looks like a simple straightforward comedy. It might be more but even if it isn't won't that be welcome in the heat of Prestige Film Season surrounding by Totally Meaningful Sober Epic Dramas?
Here's the trailer
Are you a yes, no or maybe so? Charlize Theron: how ya like her now? How you like her Oscar chances once that Golden Globe is sewn up... or will Kristen Wiig's Bridesmaid trip her up there?
Reader Comments (32)
I'm definitely a Yes based on Reitman's past films. I really think that this trailer is a little bit misleading. I have a feeling it'll be a bit more drama within the comedy of the "psycho prom queen bitch" who hates what her life has become. This also seems like a side of Charlize we don't get to see often and it looks pretty exciting. Watching Charlize breakdown slowly with her immature regression could be awesome.
Definite yes, for the stank looks on Charlize's face alone.
The movies looks good and so does Charlize's performance, it's great to see her doing another comedy. Take note Winslet!!
I don't think she'll be nominated pass the GG but it's good to see her doing great work again. Wigg vs Theron at the Globes I say goes to Wigg unless Young Adult does well at the box office.
I'm kind of dying for this, she does deadpan so well. And as a YA author, the whole concept is just so hilarious to me.
I'm a yes/maybe so.
I liked Juno (didn't love it) and I disliked Up In The Air but this seems to be smart and Theron might be great. My cocnerns are that it might try too hard for laughs as many comedies do and that Theron's character might end up boringly realising she shouldn't behaveb like that and become a nice girl and all's great or something as simplistic as that.
But really.. even the trailer is totally rewatchable!
and JayJ - Winslet will actually be in Reitman's next film though I don't think it'll be a comedy.
Nathaniel - I see you posted the family-friendly version of the trailer ;)
Actually, I think Viola Davis would easily take the Comedy/Musical Golden Globe
Yes...Charlize is back and she looks inspired...I didn't think she could do funny, but she seems to pull it off here (and I agree... the insane deadpan stares and stank bitchfaces are perfect). The movie looks wicked and fun...and what's with Patrick Wilson being typecast as the "Prom King"?
I'm a yes. It looks like well-made good fun.
I think she'll be kind of oblivious to exactly HOW crazy she comes off, and that's where her criticism/downfall lies (aka, the drama of the movie).
"How you like her Oscar chances once that Golden Globe is sewn up... or will Kristen Wiig's Bridesmaid trip her up there?"
I think her Oscar nod chances are pretty good...in which case will trip up Kristen Wiig for the Golden Globe because they tend to choose the Oscar player from the comedy/musical group (or at least when the Oscar player in the comedy/musical group is the main competition to the winner of the drama category). LOL us awards-fanatics must sound so crazy to normal people. :P
If it weren't for me wanting to see all potential/likely Oscar nominees, I'd be a "No." I guess they were going for dead pan, but to me it just read "not funny" (except for the dog-in-a-bag bit).
Really, the trailer left me wondering how this has managed to get Oscar consideration-- it has the pedigree, I guess, but it seemed like an upscale RomCom, say a rich man's Sweet Home Alabama with better direction but half the heart.
Maybe so but leaning on yes, although the first screen cap makes me think that Kim Catrall would have killed in this role had it been available twenty years ago.
I agree with your points except I think Patton Oswalt will more than fit the bill when it comes to the humanized supporting cast . Even if it's the Charlize show, it's still a special thing to see a woman being given such an unlikable, meaty lead role.. I love the idea of her playing that girl who was one of the mean girls in high school. We get to see what happens to the mean girl once high school is over.
Perfect casting because she's beautiful, but at the same time she's got this intensity and can tap into a dark place. This character might be more unlikable than her character in Monster. I'm not sure if it will get another Oscar nomination but it's great to see Theroin in a lead role again. Hollywood has been underappreciating her , but I think she has more beauty, radiance, and raw talent than the hyped up likes of Angelina Jolie.
I loved Charlize on "Arrested Development," so I'm very happy to see her finally get to be whackadoo funny on the big screen.
I think the race for the Golden Globe will be very interesting since the candidates (Charlize, Jodie/Kate, Kristen, Viola) are in films that are so incredibly different. Should be interesting.
Why are people putting Viola Davis in the comedy/musical category? The trailer for The Help was pretty comedic, but the film itself was totally dramatic. Even a little moreso than I thought it would be. I doubt she'll be in the comedy/musical category...
For me, based on Reitman's previous work, it's an absolute no-brainer yes before even seeing the trailer. Probably the film I'm most excited for this Oscar season.
The trailer has not tempered my excitement, but the out and out comedy tone of it is not what I expected. I am still very much looking forward to it, but I hope the tone of the trailer is a bit of a ruse and we'll get some more heft in the real thing.
100% yes, before and after seeing the trailer. Juno and Up in the Air are among the most rewatchable movies of the last five years, and I have serious faith in Reitman after going 2.5 for 3. Where was Wilson in the trailer though? Poor guy, hope the movie doesn't gloss over him too much.
Yes. I'm pretty confident that the actual movie will be more dramatic than the trailer... dark, prickly dramedies can be hard to market accurately.
I'm not sold on an Oscar nom yet, but she's at least getting a Golden Globe nod. To get in for Oscar, she'll need raves, and the movie will have to be taken seriously.
That's the big question. If tit gets critical love, it could win the globe and burst into the Oscar. Otherwise, Wiig has the Globe locked and the Drama Globe could be the entire field.
A big "yes" to Theron, at least on the basis of this trailer (and why didn't they cast HER as Marilyn Monroe rather than the lackluster Michelle Williams?). At this point I'm shortlisting this for best picture, director and screenplay as well...
Is this film a comedic version of Revolution Road that used the idea of the adults try to be back to youth culture. Charlize need to be funny, sexy, crazy, bitchy, to earn another oscar. A yes for me.
I love this. Charlize looks fantastic. She is so in for the Golden Globes, and the best actress race looks so muddled that I can see her making it at the oscars.
JayJ - uh, Kate Winslet is in Carnage this year, which is a comedy. Actually the GG race looks so obvious: Theron, Foster, Winslet, Wiig, Diaz. Wiig is probably winning.
zn3v6 -- it does look obvious but then, when did the Globes ever not have surprises?
Charlize alternating between trashy, hot and faux-wholesome: gawd yes!
A grey, throwback Reitman + Cody comedy: yes, maybe. The trailer seems a little too glum and cool. I'm yearning for a Reitman and Cody rat-a-tat screwball comedy. Here Jason Patrick should be Charlize's worthy adversary-object rather than an aw-shucks straight-man. If he's just a foil, boring!
The supporting cast seem formulaic, I hope a few have shiny (but not distracting) parts: maybe so.
The movie is probably much darker and better than the trailer is letting on, but the one thing that I can't seem to shake (and this is KILLING me) is how much Charlize, such a talented, beautiful creature, sounds so much like Katherine Heigl, a decidedly much less talented, beautiful creature. It's casting a decidedly negative pall over this for me.
I'm dying for a actress to win the Oscar for a comedy. The last one was, who, Paltrow?
Love Patton Oswalt, like Charlize....but I'm going with no. The dialogue is just so quirky and precious, once again. And I agree, if they end up together that would be amazingly bad.
I was one of the few who thought Juno was irritating as hell....so....this looks like more of the same to me.
Vern -- i think you mean Patrick Wilson but i love the idea of Jason Patric squaring off with Charlize too :) *NEW HOT COUPLE FANTASY*
Ooops. Frankly I don't think a reprisal of some that Patrick WILSON-on-Kate Winslet action is too much to ask for. Beyond doe-eyed staring he didn't do much, but when he did it was, what's the word?
HOT!
Here's hoping for a laundry room scene.
In a weaker year, I think Charlize would be sailing to a third nomination for this. Comedy! Ish. Reitman! Cody! Perfect fifth-slotter. But I don't know. I do like the trailer. "We can beat this thing together!" Ha ha ha. I dig it. Hope this is a good one for all involved.
Bia,
does Charlize play a Young Adult author?
Thanks
I began watching United States of Tara and I kinda feel like the Theron - Oswalt relationship does not seem to be much different from the DeWitt - Oswalt. I know, it's just a trailer but there are so many similarities (IF the movie ends up the way we suspect it will)
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