I'm afraid I have to spoiler this one.
Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), writer of young adult fiction gets an email telling her of the birth of ex-high school boyfriend Buddy's baby daughter. Mavis resolves to free Buddy from the trap he is in (because they are "meant to be together"), and goes back to the small town she loathes in order to do this. Among those she encounters is Matt (Patton Oswalt), another high school contemporary, crippled at school by jocks who beat him up on the mistaken assumption he was gay, and now a slightly bitter overweight geek who can, nevertheless, see what Mavis is up to.
Written by Diablo (Juno) Cody, the script for this movie has almost everything wrong with it. It starts with a fundamentally misconceived central character - Mavis is nuts. There is no sense to her quest and she is unable to see this. Worse, there is no prospect of her being successful, and she cannot see this either. She is unable to connect with anybody, she is alcoholic, she doesn't even have any empathy with her neglected lapdog. In short, she is completely unsympathetic and, more to the point (and importantly), utterly unbelievable (how come no-one has ever spotted her sociopathic streak apart from Matt). I think she might be meant to be funny: she isn't.
The plot comprises Mavis' mild attempts to seduce Buddy away from his family until, after an hysterical shouting match in the street, she gives up and goes back to Minneapolis. This non-story doesn't even have the satisfaction of a resolution (never mind a satisfactory resolution; there is simply no resolution at all). The only element of the story which generates any interest is her interaction with the likable but damaged Matt, and even that comes to an improbable conclusion.
Given the absence of plot, one would have hoped that Cody would come up with some dialogue on a par with Juno, but there is little sparkle here. You get to the end of the movie and think "Well, what was the point of that?"
There are terrific performances from Theron and, particularly, Oswalt, but they don't make up for the threadbare foundation on which they are built.
And Patrick Wilson finds another part where he needs to do little more than look pretty.
Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), writer of young adult fiction gets an email telling her of the birth of ex-high school boyfriend Buddy's baby daughter. Mavis resolves to free Buddy from the trap he is in (because they are "meant to be together"), and goes back to the small town she loathes in order to do this. Among those she encounters is Matt (Patton Oswalt), another high school contemporary, crippled at school by jocks who beat him up on the mistaken assumption he was gay, and now a slightly bitter overweight geek who can, nevertheless, see what Mavis is up to.
Written by Diablo (Juno) Cody, the script for this movie has almost everything wrong with it. It starts with a fundamentally misconceived central character - Mavis is nuts. There is no sense to her quest and she is unable to see this. Worse, there is no prospect of her being successful, and she cannot see this either. She is unable to connect with anybody, she is alcoholic, she doesn't even have any empathy with her neglected lapdog. In short, she is completely unsympathetic and, more to the point (and importantly), utterly unbelievable (how come no-one has ever spotted her sociopathic streak apart from Matt). I think she might be meant to be funny: she isn't.
The plot comprises Mavis' mild attempts to seduce Buddy away from his family until, after an hysterical shouting match in the street, she gives up and goes back to Minneapolis. This non-story doesn't even have the satisfaction of a resolution (never mind a satisfactory resolution; there is simply no resolution at all). The only element of the story which generates any interest is her interaction with the likable but damaged Matt, and even that comes to an improbable conclusion.
Given the absence of plot, one would have hoped that Cody would come up with some dialogue on a par with Juno, but there is little sparkle here. You get to the end of the movie and think "Well, what was the point of that?"
There are terrific performances from Theron and, particularly, Oswalt, but they don't make up for the threadbare foundation on which they are built.
And Patrick Wilson finds another part where he needs to do little more than look pretty.