Young Adult Review - 3½ Stars

Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman famously collaborated on “Juno”—they reunite for “Young Adult”—yet another laugh out loud edgy comedy. 30 something divorced not quite successful Charlize Theron flips when she discovers her high school boyfriend happily married and about to become a father.  So she drops everything and returns to her home town to reclaim him.  In a bar (she drinks–a lot) she runs into Patton Oswalt—a fellow graduate whom she barely noticed in high school except for the time the school jocks dragged him into the woods and beat him senseless, sentencing him to the life of a broken adult.  Oswalt — the great angry stand up comic — turns into this story’s voice of reason — reminding Charlize that she really doesn’t have a good plan working and that maybe a therapist might be in order.  “Young Adult” really captures the way people talk and sometimes think and comes to an outrageous comic pain filled conclusion.  Not the usual stuff and for that we should thanks.  Does it deliver what it promises?  Comedy with edge.  It is entertaining?  Painful and very funny.  Is it worth the price of admission?  Absolutely.