Young Adult

[iClaudia]

Jan 1, 2012 0:02:57 GMT -4 Hamatron said:

Yeah. I agree. I saw this with my parents. My mom liked it, my Dad didn't get it, and I thought it was freaking boring. There wasn't enough happening or something. Also, the... writing? Directing? Something about it was not engaging. I just felt like there was nothing there and none of the people were engaging. A lot of the emotional moments of the story felt so forced and cliche. Eh.

I liked it but I know what you mean. I think it was the directing and it was probably intentional but much of the dialogue would have benefited from slightly quicker pacing. The acting was first rate - Charlize did a great job and that scene at the naming ceremony just had me cringing and closing my eyes. If anyone expressed anger it wouldn't have been as humiliating but the eyes full of pity really made the scene emotionally affecting.

[narm]

I rented this today and liked it. I love Charlize. I think she is a great actress. I actually found the hook up to be very believable. She was just in that place, where anyone would do. I had the feeling Matt would be fine without her. He seemed to get where she was in life, and was not at all blown away by the Mavis of high school, like his sister appeared.

[thneed]

I really liked it and I'm surprised more people here didn't. The main character is a writer for Sweet Valley books! We love those here!

I thought it was much better than Juno. Less cartoonish. I never thought of Charlize Theron as much of an actor but I thought she did an amazing job as someone who never got over high school.

narmI also thought the hookup was believable. Mavis was just confroned by the fact that everyone in her peer group has moved on with their lives, has real relationships and children, and are secure enough not to try to impress her, and they think she's a pitiful loser with nothing going on in her life. So she runs into the arms of the one guy who also never got over high school, who still envies her.

But I thought the point of the movie was Matt was just as much a mess as Mavis. He wasn't fine without her because he wasn't fine with her. He was still the guy he was in high school to both himself and everyone else - hate crime guy. He never got a real job or moved out of his home or made any friends. He and his sister just enabled each other's immaturity. He never built an identity beyond that. Like Mavis, he never moved on.

[Deleted]

I watched this last weekend -- twice. I liked it exponentially more than 'Juno' and Charlize blew me away. I thought she was a good actress before, but she entered a different realm for me in this role. My friend and I both thought that she was robbed of an Oscar nomination. I thought the movie itself was quite smart and it has stayed with me a bit.

[narm]

Hmm, thneed, I am going to watch it again. I guess I just thought he seemed so much wiser than her? Like he was kind of above it all? I like your perspective- I still have it rented for about another day and I'm gonna see! Maybe I was projecting-having "those" friends from HS...

lena, I agree, the movie has stuck with too. She did a great job. It was a sad little movie. I LOVED the name of the band!

[Deleted]

I liked this a lot, too. Not sure about the whole "Everyone here's jus jellus, you're awesome!" speech at the end but I didn't mind that too much. Charlize was fantastic and yep, totally robbed of an Oscar nom.

[thneed]

Mar 12, 2012 16:02:22 GMT -4 @solly79 said:

I liked this a lot, too. Not sure about the whole "Everyone here's jus jellus, you're awesome!" speech at the end but I didn't mind that too much. Charlize was fantastic and yep, totally robbed of an Oscar nom.

I'm not sure how I felt about it either. Before, the movie had a story arc - Mavis becomes a bwtter person after realizing how shallow and emply her life is, and come to terms with the fact that's she's not the charcter in her books/the way she was in high school.

But then Sandra gives her that speech about how Mavis is awesome and everyone else is jealous, and it brings her right back where she started. No insight, no growth, no change on the part of anybody. She goes back to Minneapolis exactly the same as when she left. On the one hand, it made the movie more ambiguous and bittersweet. On the other, what was the point then? It makes the whole thing a shaggy dog story.

Do you guys thing that the Mavis's actions at the very end (throwing away her high school sweater, writing the end to her book so that the character she based on Buddy died) showed she was ready to move on, or showed she was doubling down on her delusions by clinging to the fantasy that Sandra fed her?

[huntergrayson]

I don't think that we were necessarily supposed to take that speech as being endorsed by the movie. The movie kept making clear that Mavis had some SERIOUS issues - besides the alcoholism, there was also the hair-pulling/ripping - and it would have seemed really unrealistic for her to change in a few days/weeks. I liked the ambiguity - it seemed like it was saying that she *may* change, but the first thing is letting go of her old self/her high school persona.

I admired how unflinching Patton and Charlize were when it came to the darker sides of their characters, as well as how the filmmakers portrayed them.

I do think that Buddy and his wife should've been given more depth.

[chonies]

Finally saw this. I really, really liked the darkness and the ambiguity, and the selectively flat characters--to me, Buddy and his wife were blanks because Mavis was just projecting whatever she wanted on them. Sandra was a dangerous and interesting twist. I don't think she was in love with Mavis, but just kind of infatuated. I also think that Mavis had a tiny glimmer of awareness--something flickered briefly in that kitchen scene--but I don't think it was supposed to be an OMG! moment. Just sort of a, "this is...interesting" effect, like going into an echo chamber. I also like the touch of bookending the Minneapolis friend at the beginning saying almost exactly the same thing Sandra did at the end.

And now I'm gushing. Anyway, I wish I'd seen it in the theater, but luckily Redbox...

[Deleted]

I didn't think the movie was bad (mainly because the actors were good), but the trailer certainly was misleading.

This movie is not a comedy.