Young Adult

Director: Jason Reitman
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.5

A writer of books geared to teenage girls (Charlize Theron) travels from the Mini-Apple to her old rinky-dink town to try to steal back her ex-boyfriend (Patrick Wilson), who just so happens to be happily married and with child - while there, she also befriends the local man-child/cripple (Patton Oswalt). Like Bad Santa (which gets better and better each time I watch it), screenwriter Diablo Cody's made a lead character who is a mean-spirited wreck, but unlike Bad Santa, this isn't funny in the slightest, and even asks for its lead to be - dare I say - pitied, which, frankly, isn't possible since there isn't a bit of her that's remotely redeemable. Even the final speech by Oswalt's sister (Collette Wolfe) - basically telling Theron she's better than these small-town dopes - is pure ugliness, arguing that even a small amount of (in this case, literary) talent and an ability to have a decent apartment in a frigid, depressing (if liberated) Midwestern city (apologies, Mr. Eric Henderson) indicates a person's worth as a human being. Go back to stripping, devil.