In my opinion this was the Best Picture of 2009, not Inglorious Bastards, not the Hurt Locker, certainly not Precious. This is a master class in the emptiness in the soul and its also one of the funniest films I've seen in years. It was Clooney's greatest film performance to that point in his career (only his work in The Descendants out does) , revealed the master talent that is Vera Farmiga to the world and was Anna Kendrick's breakthrough role. The way she says so matter-of-factly to her boyfriend that "I don't even think of him that way. He's old" is one of the most hysterical lines in the film.

tHIS was the third straight comic masterpiece for Jason Reitman and another in a line of understated black comedies he did for the next few years. Young Adult is a seriously undervalued work of art. He has been one of our great social comic directors since he burst on to the scene in Thank You for Smoking and with a few exceptions every film he has made has been deeper than the usual comic fair. I don't blame the Oscar for not yet honoring him: the Academy has never had the ability to deal with comedy, even when its as dark as the work he does here. But he has a gift unparalleled among so many other masters to take snapshots of our everyday life and make us laugh at how lost we can be without someone. Up in the Air is his greatest film - so far. I have confidence some day he'll make a better one.