‘Young Adult’ movie has some maturing to do

No yearbook superlatives will be coming for “Young Adult,” the tale of a woman dealing with the post-prom-queen blues. “Young Adult”

Starring: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt

Directed by Jason Reitman

Grade: B-

No yearbook superlatives will be coming for “Young Adult,” the tale of a woman dealing with the post-prom-queen blues.

Mavis Gary’s (Charlize Theron) struggle to salvage her writing career is interrupted by an invitation to celebrate the new baby of her ex-high school flame, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). Determined to pry Buddy away from his wife, the delusional Mavis decides to drive back to her small town of Mercury, Minn. The entire time she blasts one of Buddy’s old mix tapes, constantly rewinding to give the first song another listen.

Mavis soon discovers that, unlike the tape, her life can’t be so easily rewound back to her ’90s glory days. She’s an alcoholic who only survives mornings by the saving grace of her breakfast two liter bottle of Diet Coke. She spends her days in Mercury preparing for Buddy, carefully covering each crack in her perfect veneer.

Much like Mavis, “Young Adult” suffers from a certain superficiality. It presents itself as a film about a woman with mental issues who spirals to a personal rock bottom. But the film misses any introspection by the main character. The movie’s sloppy, forced ending leaves the audience frustrated and unsatisfied.

The film tries for a strong, dramatic tone, but it remains underdeveloped.

Where the movie’s drama is a painful chore to endure, its humor is a subtle joy. This is a unsurprising fact, considering the film shares a creative tandem with “Juno” — both were directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody.

“Young Adult” excels at the little things. Reitman pulls humor out of nearly every scene, and normally from unexpected sources.

The hilarity of Mavis’ dumbfounded look as she gazes at the pinnacle of suburbia — a combined KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut that she calls “KenTaco Hut” — is lasting. Her humorous exchanges with store clerks and cashiers often represent the strongest points of the movie.

“Adult” is filled with great situational humor. Her “courting” of the unavailable Buddy leads to a wealth of exceptionally cringe-inducing dialogue. To Theron’s credit, the success of these scenes hinges primarily on her ability to create two starkly different personalities of Mavis — a self-important narcissist around people and a broken, unfulfilled, self-hating person internally.

Other than Buddy, the only acquaintance Mavis finds left in town is the disabled Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt). Her invisible locker-neighbor in high school, he serves as both the comedic balance to her indefensible plans and her main drinking partner. Oswalt gives a strong performance as an effortlessly funny but genuine Matt.

Yet the humor and goodwill of the earlier portions of the film do not atone for the dramatic predictability and sloppiness of the ending. “Young Adult” would benefit from some added maturity of plot.