Mavis Geary is at a crossroads in her life. No, make that a dead end. She’s in her 30’s, recently divorced, ghostwriting
a series of Teen Novels that are about to be canceled, and living a comfortable
existence, albeit lonely, with her tiny dog in a new high rise apartment in the center of
Minneapolis. Not that it looks too
luxurious as her home is a chaotic mess, sort of like her life. One morning
whilst still trying to recover from another night of binge drinking, she turns
on her laptop and discovers an email from her college sweetheart Buddy announcing
that he and his wife have just had their first child, which really irks her.
Flash forward another day and waking up in bed with
yet another stranger, Mavis impulsively packs her bags and heads off back to
Mercury her hometown determined to hook up with Buddy again. He was after all her boyfriend first and
although she let him get away, she knows that their destiny is to be
together. The fact that he is very
happily married and now a father, is irrelevant in Mavis’s eyes and a mere obstacle
that she can easily overcome. Or can she?
She doesn’t get open arms welcome from any of her
former friends, many she doesn’t even remember anyway, and she is convinced
that Buddy’s politeness is masking his own passionate desire to be back with
her.
But things never work out as planned and that is
actually why this movie is so very good as there is no attempt whatsoever to
change Mavis from being an extremely selfish and self-centered alcoholic and
she ends up possibly even a tad worse in the end. I would have so hated it they had given it a
Happy Hollywood Ending where she found redemption, sobered up and moved back to
the small suburban town home life that she so hated and was so unsuited for. This way is much more fun for us, and I think Mavis too.
It’s rather a wry wee comedic drama (not the laugh out
loud type) and the best scenes are when ex Prom Queen Mavis is confronting her
past the way that others remember it. As
it unwinds it does provide good fodder for the last episode of the teen novel
that she must finish. Mavis may in fact
be in her 30’s but that doesn’t stop her still acting like an adolescent girl.
Charlize
Theron couldn’t be more perfect as
Mavis. Even when she is behaving her most obnoxious and oblivious to all the
pain she is causing others, you cant but help want to be on her side. Patrick
Wilson just has to look pretty and stunned as Buddy, but Patton Oswault as Matt the fat geeky
guy who had the locker next to Mavis at High School and who she never even
looked at, is hilarious as he constantly tells it as it is to Mavis with his new
found bravado.
The movie was made by the same team who gave us the
excellent ‘Juno’
written by Diablo Cody,
and directed by Jason Reitman…. and
if you loved that as much as I did, then you will want to see this one too.
★★★★★★★★
★★★★★★★★
