Beauty of An Ugly Role (From Oxford Mail)

Beauty of An Ugly Role

6:00pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Reviews with Trailers By Damon Smith

YOUNG ADULT (15 Comedy/Drama/Romance. Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser, Jill Eikenberry, Mary Beth Hurt. Director: Jason Reitman.

Gentlemen don’t prefer blondes in Young Adult, a scabrous black comedy about a faded beauty queen who clings on to the past to avoid acknowledging the loneliness and despair that hang over her like cheap perfume.

Penned by Diablo Cody, the film reunites the Oscar-winning screenwriter with director Jason Reitman following their collaboration on Juno.

This is a very different proposition: the youthful exuberance and sassy wit of the characters in the earlier film has mouldered into weariness and cynicism here, embodied by a conniving anti-heroine who attempts to woo back her married high school sweetheart.

Charlize Theron fearlessly sinks her teeth into the lead role, shedding her image as a glamour puss to embrace the questionable hygiene of a woman whose exercise regime comprises a quick burst on a video game fitness program while her unloved pet dog yaps outside on the balcony.

Cody doesn’t sugar-coat this bitter pill: the central protagonist is deeply unlikeable and once the end credits roll, its debatable if she has learned anything from her attempts to destroy the lives of decent, hard-working folk.

Young Adult is distinguished by a stand-out performance from Theron, who relishes the ugliness of her character and doesn’t try to soften Mavis’s jagged edges.

Cody’s script eschews sentimentality and is peppered with some acidic one-liners.

Her determination to avoid convention catches the eye but doesn’t quite seduce the heart.