Young Adult

Charlize Theron is the self-absorbed central character in a script of such meticulous cruelty that it’s like watching someone pulling the legs off a spider.

With all the so-called well-intended chick flicks with squeaky clean endings, is it any wonder that we're starved to see a heroine who's not redeemed and holding hands with her frenemy by the end of a movie?

There has always been something so inward about [Theron;] she can seem detached or deprived. But here it's as if the script and the direction felt bound to heed that loneliness, and let the actress go with her bravery and the depressive sag of her mouth.

Young Adult is much funnier and infinitely more savage than Cody's earlier collaboration with director Jason Reitman, the cute but rather cosy Juno.

Daring and different but just way too dark.

Here is a film that could have been awful but is so carefully nuanced that it is one of the most satisfying of the year.

Young Adult is easy to overlook, but once watched, it’s hard to forget.

As much as this film tries to be a mature, adult story, it’s still about teendom and high school hangups.

There’s no denying the ultimate sadness and self-destruction that Mavis is enduring, and Cody’s script brings these themes to light with a playful yet meaningful perspective.

Theron and Oswalt are worth the price of admission, but, in a great many ways, much is left unfulfilled even when the credits roll.