Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a ghostwriter who returns to her childhood home in a bid to recapture her former high-school glory. Courtesy Paramount Pictures and Mandate Pictures.
Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a ghostwriter who returns to her childhood home in a bid to recapture her former high-school glory. Courtesy Paramount Pictures and Mandate Pictures.

Charlize Theron gives an excellent performance in Young Adult



Young Adult Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson
*****

A former small-town beauty with an outwardly glamorous big-city life suffers a midlife meltdown in this witty, acerbic black comedy. Charlize Theron may have won an Oscar for portraying a real-life serial killer in Monster, but rarely has she played such a monstrous anti-heroine as she does in this highly entertaining subversion of Hollywood romcom rules and high-school reunion clichés.

The director Jason Reitman has a strong track record of cynical, state-of-the-nation satires including Thank You for Smoking and Up in the Air. He previously collaborated with the screenwriter Diablo Cody on the 2007 adoption comedy Juno, which earned an Academy Award for best screenplay and did phenomenal business at the box office. But that was a quirky teenage fairy tale, full of implausibly sweet eccentrics, whereas Young Adult adopts a far more ambivalent attitude towards its disagreeable protagonists.

Theron plays Mavis Gary, a lonely and neurotic ghostwriter for an ailing franchise of teen-romance novels. Although she is fast approaching 40, Mavis still views the world through the simplistic fluffy-pink filter of her fictitious adolescent characters, largely because she remains emotionally grounded in some lost golden age when she was the high-school queen in her small Midwestern hometown. In Reitman's bravura opening credits sequence, Mavis repeatedly rewinds her favourite early 1990s rock song on audio cassette - a simple but effective metaphor for her mental state.

Struggling with alcohol addiction and the bitter aftermath of divorce, Mavis concludes that her one chance at happiness lies in returning home and stealing back her former boyfriend Buddy Slade (Wilson), even though he is blissfully married with a new baby. Needless to say, this deluded quest to recapture past glories is not a roaring success. Prickly meetings with her ex, her parents and her former classmates only confirm her reputation as a self-absorbed drama queen. Her sole grudgingly supportive confidante is Matt Freehauf (Oswalt), the former class geek who was left with permanent disabilities following a brutal attack by school bullies 20 years ago.

In a lesser film, this misfit duo would have ended up as long-lost soul mates who heal their damaged hearts with love. But to their credit, Cody and Reitman avoid the hackneyed Hollywood pay-off of redemption and reconciliation. Instead of a big group hug, the story climaxes with a sour domestic farce of petty humiliation. The quaint townsfolk reveal their envious and unforgiving side, just as Mavis flees back to the city without ever quite facing her selfish, narcissistic, immature nature.

It may sound like a bracingly bitter exercise in feel-bad misanthropy, but YoungAdult is smart, sophisticated and great fun. Indeed, it is a testament to the quality of Cody's sharp-witted script and two fully rounded performances, by Theron and Oswalt, that we end up sympathising with such plausibly unpleasant protagonists. Admittedly, the other characters are a little short on substance, while the story itself feels too slight for such meaty themes as youthful promise betrayed and the hollowness of the American dream. But that said, this deliciously dark comedy never takes an obvious turn and rarely strikes a false note.

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

Results

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m. Winner: Majd Al Megirat, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Ahmed Al Shehhi (trainer)

5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m. Winner: Dassan Da, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi

6pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m. Winner: Heba Al Wathba, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle

6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m. Winner: Hameem, Adrie de Vries, Abdallah Al Hammadi

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m. Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Richard Mullen, Ahmed Al Mehairbi

Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,200m. Winner: Harbour Spirit, Adrie de Vries, Jaber Ramadhan.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Messi at the Copa America

2007 – lost 3-0 to Brazil in the final

2011 – lost to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals

2015 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final

2016 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher:  Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5

MATCH INFO

Iceland 0 England 1 (Sterling pen 90 1)

Man of the match Kari Arnason (Iceland)

SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol

Power: 154bhp

Torque: 250Nm

Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option 

Price: From Dh79,600

On sale: Now

THE APPRENTICE

Director: Ali Abbasi

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 3/5

Prop idols

Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.

Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)

An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.

----

Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)

Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.

----

Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)

Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Company%20Profile
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Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

The biog

Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists. 

Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.

Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic 

if you go

The flights

Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes

The package

Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January

The info

Visit www.gokorea.co.uk

The biog

Marital status: Separated with two young daughters

Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo

Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian

Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness

Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon

Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics

 

The Penguin

Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz

Creator: Lauren LeFranc

Rating: 4/5

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Where to buy

Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com

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