Preview: Young Adult (2011)

Synopsis:

Regretting having abandoned her lost love from High School, a middle-aged fashionista who never quite grew up, goes back to try and win back her beau who is now on his way to the altar.

• Poster: (B); C+

Review:

(Poster no longer available: The award-winning novel design harkens back to a day long past where novel adaptations were presented as a hand-drawn amalgam of images from the film on a book-like facade. The issue is that this story isn't based on a novel, which makes the design decision seem a bit strange.)

The first poster is far more interesting than this, but it should play on Charlize Theron's recognizability to sell tickets.

• Trailer: C

Review:

Thank You for Smoking, Juno and Up in the Air were each drolly funny films. Yet, this trailer just doesn't give the audience the notion that they are about to watch another. A comedy, even a drole one, needs to highlight its best comic bits, not hide them behind an over-explanatory preview trailer.

Oscar Prospects:

Even though the trailer doesn't look that funny, Jason Reitman has been to the Oscrs twice in a row (Juno and Up in the Air both Best Director nominees among others) and Thank You for Smoking was close to a screenwriting nomination. That makes any film Reitman handles a surefire contender. Of course, there's some rumor that there was a backlash against his confidence with Up in the Air, which lost all six of its nominations including a believed-locked award for Adapted Screenplay. If critics like Young Adult the way they did his previous three films, then Oscar will either take notice and prove the rumors false or ignore it and prove them true. It shall be interesting.

Release Date:

• December 9, 2011

Full Review Synopsis:

I have not seen this film.

-Wesley Lovell (October 9, 2011) Original

-Wesley Lovell (December 4, 2011) New Poster