:) -- Ooh! -- I wouldn't be too embarrassed about recommending this.
:/ -- Err. -- Maybe if you've got nothing else to watch at all.
:/
I love young adult books. Reading about those experiences helps me replace some of my own more traumatizing experiences, and it keeps me knowledgeable about what middle schoolers and high schoolers are doing (or at least reading) nowadays. Here's a quick list of what I think that is:
Overall: One of the movie posters (see above) is really cool--like a parody of the old The Baby-Sitters Club covers. From the trailer this movie seemed to promise a narrative about a thirty-something woman who was popular in high school, and she's trying to reclaim that feeling. I thought the setting was going to be a high school reunion or something like that, but Mavis (Charlize Theron), a miserable young-adult book ghostwriter, heads home from "the city" (which is Minneapolis--not really a city, is it?) to save her ex-boyfriend from his happy marriage and brand-new baby. (Ho, ho, irony.) Mavis was a mean girl in high school and is still a mean girl. I'm not sure how believable it is, since she just seems a little more psycho than misunderstood. It's sometimes funny and mostly awkward, but a bit disappointing considering that it wasn't as clever as Juno (the writer is the same). It carried much more of the tone of depressing movie reality as Up in the Air (the director is the same). Like, WHAM-oooooohhhh! Oh. (That's the tone of the movie.) !!!REALITY!!! (That's the denouement.)
I love young adult books. Reading about those experiences helps me replace some of my own more traumatizing experiences, and it keeps me knowledgeable about what middle schoolers and high schoolers are doing (or at least reading) nowadays. Here's a quick list of what I think that is:
- drugs
- dealing with bullies, crushes, stalkers, abusive family members, teachers, parents, and stepfamilies, etc.
- detention
- boarding school
- sex
- growing apart from childhood friends
- suicides
- school dances and other events
- killings
- brawls
- growing up
- discovering who they really are (royalty, aliens, superhumans, werewolves, witches, etc.)
Overall: One of the movie posters (see above) is really cool--like a parody of the old The Baby-Sitters Club covers. From the trailer this movie seemed to promise a narrative about a thirty-something woman who was popular in high school, and she's trying to reclaim that feeling. I thought the setting was going to be a high school reunion or something like that, but Mavis (Charlize Theron), a miserable young-adult book ghostwriter, heads home from "the city" (which is Minneapolis--not really a city, is it?) to save her ex-boyfriend from his happy marriage and brand-new baby. (Ho, ho, irony.) Mavis was a mean girl in high school and is still a mean girl. I'm not sure how believable it is, since she just seems a little more psycho than misunderstood. It's sometimes funny and mostly awkward, but a bit disappointing considering that it wasn't as clever as Juno (the writer is the same). It carried much more of the tone of depressing movie reality as Up in the Air (the director is the same). Like, WHAM-oooooohhhh! Oh. (That's the tone of the movie.) !!!REALITY!!! (That's the denouement.)
Surprise: You don't think they will--and you kind of hope they don't--but they do. All. The. Way.
haha I totally know what you're talking about in the "surprise." yeah, it's like, oh man they really... um.. yeah. Then it's like embarrassing and you're embarrassed for them. It's kind of an awkward feeling. I didn't like the movie very much either - she's a big baby and you think she's going to learn something in the end but she doesn't, which is like reality. Then it's like, why am I watching this movie when I am already in* reality - hence it's sort of an inconsequential movie.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Doris! Exactly!!!
ReplyDelete