After the Oscar winning success of Juno, 2011 gave us the reunited creative force of screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, but in a different mode that that heartwarming crowdpleaser. Young Adult cast Charlize Theron, an author and former prom queen who returns to her hometown to win back her high school boyfriend, played by Patrick Wilson. After Reitman’s Up in the Air peaked early in its Oscar season, this film skipped the festival route and performed modestly, earning an immediate reputation as a mean and caustic movie. With brilliant supporting work from Patton Oswalt, Collette Wolfe, and Elizabeth Reaser, the film has earned ardent fans since, despite missing out on Oscar.
This episode, we discuss the film’s cutting observational humor and the thorny wit that makes Mavis Gary such a memorable character and performance by Theron. We also discuss the Best Actress and Original Screenplay field of 2011, the film’s use of Teenage Fanclub’s “The Concept,” and long-suffering Pomeranian, Dulce.
Topics also include KenTacoHuts, gay people liking mean women, and hating the 2011 Oscar lineup.
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