Review of Young Adult (2011) by Jdb26354 — 17 Dec 2011

So who did the producers of this movie pay the license fee for the "man-child" format, which they have used in this Charlize Theron vehicle? They should have made sure they had a few dollars left over to punch up the script with some comedy, or at least some dialogue, which seemed in short supply for a number of stretches.

Man-children are usually a little round around the edges - Ms. Theron belts bourbon and scarfs KFC and could bounce a quarter off her navel. The kinship between Theron and the male man-child in the film, townie geek Patton Oswalt, seems a vehicle for speeches, rather than at all believable.

Unless the message is that booze makes all things possible - maybe I should have had a couple pops before taking in this offering. The difference between the comedic tone of the trailer and the dramatic - or rather, non-comic - tone of the movie is pretty startling.

The audience does not get the promised laughs, and messages were never the strong suit of the man-child format.