2011. Dir: Jason Reitman. Starring: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt, Elizabeth Reaser and Collette Wolfe. ●●●●○
I have yet to see all of the nominated performances in the Academy Award for best actress this year, or at least six of the higher profile contenders that didn't make the cut, however it's hard to believe there are five more deserving, more lived in performances than Charlize Theron's monstrous Mavis Gary inYoung Adult. But to single out Jason Reitman's fourth feature for it's central performance feels as insubstantial as praising George Clooney in Up in the Air or Ellen Page in Juno, almost as if it's missing the point. Not only does Reitman coax out these superb characterisations he, along with screenwriter Diablo Cody, create these distinct believable roles for the actors to inhabit.
The ghost writer of a popular (waning but still generating enough buzz to render her with minor celebrity status in her home town) series of teenager fictional novels, gripped by writer's block and sensing a lack of direction following her divorce, Mavis journeys homeward in a vague but determined attempt to reclaim her highschool sweetheart, the popular jock Buddy Slade, played by Patrick Wilson. Unfortunately Wilson isn't just married but his wife (a special needs teacher with a pub band) has recently pushed out their first baby, or "baggage" in Mavis's eye.
Added to this the biggest emotional connection she seems to able to make in Mercury, Minnesota, beating out her parents and her dog accessory (another contender for best dog of 2011), is with a overweight comic-book geek Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt). A high-school alumni who she barely remembers as "hate-crime guy" - the result of a perceptive homophobic attack which left Freehauf unable to walk without a stick (as well as damaging other vital organs) - in spite of sharing neighbouring lockers for their entire education.
Mavis no longer fits in Mercury. She has ostracised herself, at once romanticising her recollections and editing out the emotional damage she caused to those classmates not in her circle, creating a secondary world where she was the victim of a small town that held her back rather than the bitchy spider at the centre of the web of teenage malice. In her memory the past was as rosy and perfect as the storylines of her novels, where she was lauded for her fair mindedness and beauty by all her classmates, where her self confidence and determination give her the rewards she deserves.
Charlize is able to bring all this out in her finest performance to date, a sneer, a squint, a complicated make-up routine all weapons in the arsenal to show disdain for her fellow humanity and to ensnare her former beau. Even her self-acknowledged alcoholism and delusional fantasies regarding her emotional levelheadedness seem to be engineered internally to make the grand gesture. Never for a moment do you not know how Mavis is feeling but at the same time it's obvious she believes she's never letting it on.
Oswalt is also a revelation, hitherto best known for his stand-up and TV comedy work, his holy fool of a character combines obvious provision of comic relief with his anarchic opinions and frank sexual talk and yet he is incisive seeing through Mavis and her plot machinations with ease. Everytime he talks you feel the resentment of the town as much as Mavis and with a much clearer peception and cause than her disgust, yet he is unable to escape, tied down by his disability emotionally and physically.
Like the real world Mavis both grows and doesn't grow over the period of the movie, the path she is on is both different and the same, she goes on a journey and yet ends in the same emotional space. Reitman and Cody expertly lets the back story permeate through the piece, saving the sucker punch of Mavis and Buddy's split until major monologue closing the second act. It's so perfectly rendered by all involved that we begin to sympathise with the monster, against all our better judgements we want better for Mavis. It's that empathy which allows us to put our own thoughts on the last scene, where does Mavis go after that will largely depend on where you would go. Would Mavis develop and learn? Only if you would.
Diablo Cody deserves a major shout-out for her delicious dialogue, it's not the geeky hipster speak she virtually invented in Juno (her detractors get some sly knocks her as she virtually admits to how she picked up on teenage dialects), but instead is nuanced as well as pithy when required.
I would love to give this film five blobs, but in all fairness it didn't blow me away like my previous lucky few to receive that accolade, that said this is a very strong four blob film and I heartily recommend it to all of my readers.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Young Adult
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Morning Glory
2010. Dir: Roger Michell. Starring: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson and Jeff Goldblum. ●●●○○
Formulas are meant to work, they are meant to work because the plot is tried and tested with a million other examples in the relevant genre. They work because we, as an audience, often don't want much more than the formula. In Morning Glory writer Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) and director Roger Michell (Notting Hill) both know that formula and work very hard to follow it. They should have tried something different. The formula restricts them so much that the great chemistry and situations are buried under the relentless forward motion of the plot contrivances.
Of course the plot does not have an original twist in it's 107 minute running time. Rachel McAdams, as perky as possible, plays a workaholic TV producer who gets the enviable job of trying to save Daybreak (no, not that one) the ailing breakfast news programme on IBS (couldn't thay have found better initial than that). Recognising things have to change shesacks the pervy male anchor and replaces him with grumpy high-minded journo Harrison Ford. In the meantime she's in the early stages of a relationship with current affairs producer Patrick Wilson.
Does the show get to the magic share that will stop Jeff Goldblum's exec cancelling it? Will Ford and co-anchor Diane Keaton put away their differences and work together as a team? Will Wilson and McAdams find a way to co-exist with the demands of their high pressure jobs? We know the answers to these - they all fit within the formula.
On the plus side, other than the bleeding obvious throughline of the movie, just about everything work fine. The comic element works well throughout with some choice one-liners from the older cast and the occasional bout of slapstick, the romance seems a little tagged on but both McAdams and Wilson are beautiful people and you can't help hoping it will be OK for them in the long run, although frankly I have my doubts. The audience that were hoping for Broadcast News level bite at the dumbing down of hard journalism shouldn't be too disappointted as the thesis seems to me to suggest that - in Breakfast anyway - the big story should be able to rub shoulders with culture.
The cast all put in fine work, with Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford particulary proving what great comedic performers they are; she's all ditzy and charming, he's deadpan with solid timing.
For a change I'd like to suggest how this film could have been significantly better. Instead of showing the arc of the characters over several months I believe we could have followed behind the scenes during one morning show, from the pre-production meeting to the final credits. I think the same beats could've been hit, and the emotional storyline for the characters who learn might have had a better chance of translating with the audience if it were a single day of getting there. The jokes would also have had more time to develop. Any Hollywood producers who agree just give me a call and we can discuss Morning Glory 2.
Overall the film was pleasant enough viewing in spite of it's straitjacket. I fully expect this to be the best romantic comedy I see this year.
