Synchronicity, that's what it is: the day I finished reading Anthony Trollope's novel, THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS, which tells of Lady Lizzie Eustace, a beautiful, rich widow who had scaled society and built a web of lies and self delusion about herself, I went to see this film, which details the exploits of Mavis Gary, a beautiful, recently divorced, "successful" writer of young adult fiction, who has escaped her hometown of Mercury, Minn., and cocooned herself into a blanket of lies and self delusion. Lizzie Eustace, on hearing of her cousin's engagement, is resolved to save him from himself by "altruistically" marrying him herself; Mavis, on seeing an email of ex-boyfriend Buddy Slade's newborn daughter, rushes back to Mercury to free Buddy from his life of imprisonment, and bring him back to Minneapolis with her.
Once arrived in Mercury, things begin to go wrong: she discovers that Buddy can't meet her at the drop of a hat, you know, having a baby daughter and all, and that the past has a way of closing in on her, in the persons of family and former classmates. One of these former classmates becomes an actively discouraging voice, who nevertheless enables her: Matt, the nebbishy nerd who had the locker next to her, who has grown into a shlubby, nebbishy nerd, after sustaining a severe beating at the hands of some of Mavis' jock friends; for a while, the beating was considered a hate crime, since the jocks thought Matt was gay, but since Matt maintained his heterosexuality, the beating became "just one of those things that happen".
Mavis' campaign goes from bad to worse, and she winds up in a spot where she might have to confront some ugly truths about herself. But, fortunately for the film and for my sanity, she returns to Minneapolis, maybe a little sadder, but certainly no wiser, ready to resume her headlong race to the bottom. There is no catharsis, merely a fiasco, the only "message" delivered is get the hell out of your small town; and I for one am indebted to Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman for not going the "After School Special" route which so many other, similarly premised films would have followed. Kudos also to Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt, for making their thoroughly flawed characters believable, and not quite likable.
Once arrived in Mercury, things begin to go wrong: she discovers that Buddy can't meet her at the drop of a hat, you know, having a baby daughter and all, and that the past has a way of closing in on her, in the persons of family and former classmates. One of these former classmates becomes an actively discouraging voice, who nevertheless enables her: Matt, the nebbishy nerd who had the locker next to her, who has grown into a shlubby, nebbishy nerd, after sustaining a severe beating at the hands of some of Mavis' jock friends; for a while, the beating was considered a hate crime, since the jocks thought Matt was gay, but since Matt maintained his heterosexuality, the beating became "just one of those things that happen".
Mavis' campaign goes from bad to worse, and she winds up in a spot where she might have to confront some ugly truths about herself. But, fortunately for the film and for my sanity, she returns to Minneapolis, maybe a little sadder, but certainly no wiser, ready to resume her headlong race to the bottom. There is no catharsis, merely a fiasco, the only "message" delivered is get the hell out of your small town; and I for one am indebted to Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman for not going the "After School Special" route which so many other, similarly premised films would have followed. Kudos also to Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt, for making their thoroughly flawed characters believable, and not quite likable.