Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is a divorced, alcoholic, misanthropic, OCD young adult novels ghost writer who steals snippets of dialog overheard from teen girls. She is being pushed to finish the last book of a faded series. She receives an e-mail baby announcement from her former high school boyfriend Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser). She takes off after another joyless one night stand to return to her hometown of Mercury, Minnesota. She is convinced that she is meant to be with Buddy. At the local bar, she reconnects with forgotten former classmate Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt). She finally remembers he's the 'hate-crime guy' when jocks beat him up thinking he's gay. He becomes her friendly confident. His sister Sandra (Collette Wolfe) is surprisingly shallow.

Director Jason Reitman, writer Diablo Cody and the gorgeous Charlize Theron are intent on building a movie around the most dislikeable character possible. She is a disturbing mess but not a wacky funny one. It's a bold choice but just not a very funny one. It's a disturbed performance. She has a terrific dark blowup.

Charlize Theron is a young adult fiction writer. In the first few minutes of the movie, her character is ingeniously established by showing us glimpses of her morning routine. She has an idea to return to her small hometown in Mercury, Minn. to rekindle a romance with a man who is happily married with a baby. Theron was fantastic in her role. She meets an old friend Matt (Patton Oswalt) who she remembers as "the hate crime kid" because a group of jocks beat him up believing he was gay. The only thing that was hit harder was Theron's liver who is an excessive drinker.

The irony of the film is that Theron is trapped by her own life, but doesn't realize it. She in turn believes ex-bf Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) is the one who is trapped because he is married and is saddled with a kid. Theron projects herself into the main character of her current novel. She has been influenced by the romance authors where the two people who were meant for each other come together in the end although such is not the case in life.

The script is as predictable as a low budget Indie. My biggest problem is that the film drops off too much after the climax scene. It needed about 5-10 more minutes to have given it proper closure. I will say it again. Theron was great.

F-bomb, implied sex, no real nudity. Patton Oswalt without his shirt.

Young Adult is a dark comedy about a misanthropic ghost writer of Young Adult novels whose career is on the slide. She thinks that her life would be fixed if she got back together with her high school sweetheart.

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) has had a failed marriage and drinks too much. At least she moved to the big city and became a writer.

When she hears that her former high school boyfriend Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) have had a baby. Mavis heads back to her small hometown pretending she need to finish a property deal. She wants to win back Buddy even though he is happily married with a child.

In a bar Mavis meets Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) who had a locker next to her in High School. When she sees his crutch Mavis remembers that he was badly beaten up by some jocks who wrongly thought he was gay.

This is a bittersweet comedy that lacks bites and is certainly not witty. The relationship between Mavis and Matt is the best thing about the movie, as he sees right through her shallowness. The trouble is it is Mavis who has not moved on from her life and she almost embarrasses herself at every turn. Even Buddy realises she is trouble.

The movie is too easily satisfied and feels smug that it is not following a Hollywood formula. Yet it lacks creative energy and is tired like Mavis is tired of life.