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 arguably, alternatingly, the funniest and saddest film of 2011 while simultaneously being the most deceptively profound. It’s a coming-of-age tale for grownups.