Pun Salad

IMDB bills this as a "comedy" but it's one of those comedies where nothing that happens is remotely amusing to its participants. Probably not for everyone, definitely not for the kiddos, but I thought it was a bit better than OK. Kept my interest anyhow.

Charlize Theron plays the protagonist, Mavis. She's a mess. Recently divorced, she lives with her cute dog in the urban jungle of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She's overfond of Maker's Mark and one night stands. Her day job is writing a schlocky book series for teenage girls ("Waverly Prep").

When Mavis gets a birth announcement from the wife of Buddy Slade, her old high school flame, she takes it as a prompt to travel back to her hometown. Her reprehensible mission: win Buddy back. She tackles this task with booze-fueled self-delusion. She confides in Matt, another high-school classmate who she only dimly remembers as the "hate-crime guy". Back in the day, Matt was badly beaten by jocks who thought he was gay. (Matt recounts that he was quite a celebrity until it was revealed that he wasn't gay; then everybody quickly lost interest.)

Mavis only inspires occasional sympathy, because she really is an awful person. What kept me interested: will her trek through the real world break through her sociopathic shell of self-absorption and offer her a chance at redemption? No spoilers here!

You will never feel sorrier for a dog.