Young Adult was listed as a dark comedy directed by Jason Reitman. I was reminded of the advice he got from his father, director Ivan Reitman: Don't try to make scenes funnier or more dramatic. Just follow the script. You picked it for a reason.
I like that advice. I like any advice that tells you not to try very hard.
Charlize Theron plays a ghostwriter for a young adult book series. She returns to her hometown. The series she wrote for is kaput, she seems to be an alcoholic, and she's decided to reunite with her high school boyfriend even though he's married and has a new baby.
With Patton Oswalt as a former classmate who was brutally beaten and left for dead by the jocks in high school.
I don't know if it was an attempt to comfort those of us who didn't move away and become wealthy successes. The small town folk were doing pretty well themselves.
I never squandered money on yearbooks when I was in school, which was wise because I found them posted online anyway. I saw kids I hadn't thought of in years. I googled their names and they all seem to be doing quite well, even the ones I hoped would fail in life. I found only two who were doing really badly. One poor devil had his mugshot online. Another had worked low wage jobs and is now a security guard. They're on opposite sides of the law but neither one is doing well. The security guard looked a lot happier in his picture. Which is nice because he never looked happy in junior high school.
No offense to security guards. The only security guard I knew was on probation for a felony and had just gotten out of a mental hospital when he was hired to patrol outside a local high school. He had a better job than I did at the time.
Available on Netflix.
I like that advice. I like any advice that tells you not to try very hard.
Charlize Theron plays a ghostwriter for a young adult book series. She returns to her hometown. The series she wrote for is kaput, she seems to be an alcoholic, and she's decided to reunite with her high school boyfriend even though he's married and has a new baby.
With Patton Oswalt as a former classmate who was brutally beaten and left for dead by the jocks in high school.
I don't know if it was an attempt to comfort those of us who didn't move away and become wealthy successes. The small town folk were doing pretty well themselves.
I never squandered money on yearbooks when I was in school, which was wise because I found them posted online anyway. I saw kids I hadn't thought of in years. I googled their names and they all seem to be doing quite well, even the ones I hoped would fail in life. I found only two who were doing really badly. One poor devil had his mugshot online. Another had worked low wage jobs and is now a security guard. They're on opposite sides of the law but neither one is doing well. The security guard looked a lot happier in his picture. Which is nice because he never looked happy in junior high school.
No offense to security guards. The only security guard I knew was on probation for a felony and had just gotten out of a mental hospital when he was hired to patrol outside a local high school. He had a better job than I did at the time.
Available on Netflix.
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