We haven’t seen Charlize Theron have fun on screen in, well, forever. But the Academy Award-winning actress is really letting loose in YOUNG ADULT, the new dark comedy that reunites director Jason Reitman with JUNO writer Diablo Cody. If this first trailer is any indication, Theron’s character Mavis Gary won’t be someone you’ll cheer for.
Mavis is a divorced teen literature author who returns to her hometown in hopes of winning back her now married high school boyfriend. What sets YOUNG ADULT apart from other comedies is that Mavis is a spoiled, bitchy pain in the ass who drinks a lot and says whatever’s on her mind. Horrible as she is, I must admit that I agree with her opinion of babies.
This looks like a good change of pace for Reitman and Theron who have both been accused of taking themselves a little too seriously sometimes. As for Cody, perhaps YOUNG ADULT will convince viewers that she is capable of writing realistic, non-stylized dialogue.
There are two slightly different versions of this trailer floating around. I embedded the one from /Film because I find the extra raunchy joke at the end worth it.
Academy Award(R) winner Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.
