Young Adult (2011) isn't strictly a comedy as advertised. The reason is that the jokes in the movie are really poor. On the contrary, there is a hint of sadness behind its light story all the time. The film revolves around the heroine Mavis (Charlize Theron). At thirty-seven, she's a ghostwriter of teenage stories. After the divorce from her husband, she only had a Pomeranian puppy for her company. After receiving a group email from ex-boyfriend Buddy (Patrick Wilson), he begins to believe that his favorite is still the ex-boyfriend who is married and has children. At the same time, she also firmly believes that Matt still has lingering affection for her. In order to get Buddy back, she returns to the hometown she hates, and begins her journey to win someone else's husband. In a small town, she reunites with old schoolmates and Buddy, only to discover that the past is gone. However, those days made her finally understand that what she really needed was the courage to face the future.
Mavis, played by the beauty Theron, always appears so aggressive to outsiders, but beneath her proud surface hides a deep sense of unease and loss. In front of her peers, her well-dressed always makes her look so young and insignificant; when she's alone, she's so raunchy and sloppy. In the eyes of the townspeople, she is a writer capable of surviving in a big city; however, she herself knows that she is just a ghostwriter (as the saying goes, a gunman), and her works have been eliminated from the market. She was alcoholic, manic, mean and headstrong. But at the same time, she was so lonely, depressed and hopeless. All of this made her a little unstoppable. Although she was clearly aware of her psychological problems, she chose the wrong way to escape. Indeed, in front of the town people, her status as a writer, a beauty, and an urbanite all gave her the illusion that she was superior to others. And Hello Kitty's T-shirt, ex-boyfriend's sports jacket, or the move back to town are all testimony to her trying to go back to her teenage years, the days when she was brilliant at school. At the same time, as a mature woman with few close friends, her works are faced with an unknown gunman who has been removed from the shelves, and a loner with a failed marriage. This kind of vanity created by illusion reflects her loneliness, emptiness and low self-esteem. Her every move in front of and behind people makes people feel her pathetic and pitiful.
Whether in reality or in movies, everyone faces the problem of self-growth. Regardless of age, gender, occupation, personality, and the hurdles in life are all the time. Mavis in the movie scolded the old alumni several times: "What's your problem?" And I believe that she understands the real meaning of this sentence better: "What's my problem?" It is undeniable that, like Mavis, many people do not understand Why other people can always find happiness, but I feel more and more happy is a difficult thing. Mavis, who was at a low point in his life, needed a way to be recognized. So she searched, but ended up trapping herself in the past. Fortunately, the film did not make Mavis unable to extricate himself. But let her vent, see the present she has, and let her start to learn how to face the future. What about us in real life? Can you also face the future happily and bravely, and accept all kinds of unsatisfactory challenges in the process of growing up?
View more about Young Adult reviews
