Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Review: Young Adult

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_-v7dEEoo

Ah, never mind. The capsule does a decent enough job. Just a couple of things.

First: good gravy, was that trailer ever misleading. This is not a comedy, people. And while there are clearly moments designed to make you laugh, it's not a dramedy, either. This is a straight trip down Harrowing Lane, one woman's vivisection splayed out between the covers of a YA novel-in-progress. Ain't nothing funny about having a bald patch because you compulsively pull out your own hair. Patton Oswalt may be a comedian, but here, every attempt he makes at humor is an attempt to drag a rapidly worsening situation back from the brink: that of a 37-year-old failure who decides to fix her own life by destroying a few others.

"Every generation gets the screenwriter it deserves," I said to the publicist after seeing Young Adult. For me and mine, and for better and for worse, it might just be Diablo Cody. She's clearly grown as a writer since Juno, both in terms of character and narrative complexity. And with the ending of this film, she seems to be staking her claim for Gen X and its bruised, little-kid heart. It's all humming along, just the way you'd expect for a film that has asked you to play along with a vain, bitter narcissist like Mavis, when BLAMMO - it takes a stunning turn for the nihilistic. At first, I was offended - this is just perverse. Then I was grudging - okay, it made sense, both in terms of character and story. But still. Was that really necessary? Now, I'm not sure: I might just be admiring. I think Diablo Cody really does not believe that happy endings are possible for people who are damaged in their youth, and that people who say otherwise are just as deluded as the heroine of this film. It's practically Greek in its bleakness, all the more so for being set in the happy, placid Midwest.

What say you all?

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

20 Best Online Casinos USA For Real Money (2024 List)

USA Online Casinos: Top 20 Online Casino Sites of 2024

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_-v7dEEoo

Ah, never mind. The capsule does a decent enough job. Just a couple of things.

First: good gravy, was that trailer ever misleading. This is not a comedy, people. And while there are clearly moments designed to make you laugh, it's not a dramedy, either. This is a straight trip down Harrowing Lane, one woman's vivisection splayed out between the covers of a YA novel-in-progress. Ain't nothing funny about having a bald patch because you compulsively pull out your own hair. Patton Oswalt may be a comedian, but here, every attempt he makes at humor is an attempt to drag a rapidly worsening situation back from the brink: that of a 37-year-old failure who decides to fix her own life by destroying a few others.

"Every generation gets the screenwriter it deserves," I said to the publicist after seeing Young Adult. For me and mine, and for better and for worse, it might just be Diablo Cody. She's clearly grown as a writer since Juno, both in terms of character and narrative complexity. And with the ending of this film, she seems to be staking her claim for Gen X and its bruised, little-kid heart. It's all humming along, just the way you'd expect for a film that has asked you to play along with a vain, bitter narcissist like Mavis, when BLAMMO - it takes a stunning turn for the nihilistic. At first, I was offended - this is just perverse. Then I was grudging - okay, it made sense, both in terms of character and story. But still. Was that really necessary? Now, I'm not sure: I might just be admiring. I think Diablo Cody really does not believe that happy endings are possible for people who are damaged in their youth, and that people who say otherwise are just as deluded as the heroine of this film. It's practically Greek in its bleakness, all the more so for being set in the happy, placid Midwest.

What say you all?

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.