Youth in Revolt (2009)

Youth in Revolt stars Michael Cera as Nick Twisp, the nebbish-gone-wild hero of Miguel Arteta's adaptation of C.D. Payne's cult-favourite novel of the same name. Trying and failing to win the attention of the sexually sophisticated Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), Nick is visited by the realization that he needs to create an alter-ego, an edgy bad-boy named Francois Dillinger. Francois has blue eyes and a moustache, he smokes, he trashes Nick's record collection and coaches him through a spree of arson, property destruction and sexual triumph.

The film, like Payne's book, is slightlyÂ… off, in a very good way, three quarters heart-warming, smart character study and one quarter aggressive comic nihilism. There's an edge here, a very very pleasant one. It's left-field humour and frankness about boners makes the film feels like the work of people who are interested in the film as a funny film rather than as a vehicle. It's old-fashioned, a little punk, a little tiny bit jagged and very funny. The cast is outstanding, including performances by Jean Smart, Fred Willard, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Zach Galifianakis and newcomer Adhir Kalyan as Nick's partner-in-crime, Vijay. Arteta has filled the film, whose script is dense and literary, with more than enough visual humour and style to keep the film from getting too bogged down in its own witty verbosity.

Arteta (who rose to deserved indie prominence with the excellent Star Maps and Chuck & Buck) has found in Cera a really rare comic actor at a really rare moment; a genuine talent on the verge of deserved super-stardom. Cera absolutely mastered (at 15 or 16 seemingly) the smart-funny anxious and awkward comedy of sweaty palms and gawkish, aware nerd-hood, starring as cousin-loving Michael in "Arrested Development" and Evan in his breakout hit Superbad. He's doing similar things in the very funny Youth in Revolt but what matters, what's exciting, is that Cera seems willing to modulate his image (an image that's worth literally millions of dollars) by taking roles in films like Arteta's not-exactly-totally-run-of-the-mill teen sex flick and this past summer's very neat, very brave Paper Heart. His role in Youth in Revolt belies both a self-awareness and a willingness to take risks, to poke and twist his safe "Paulie from Juno" image. Which is why he's still funny, despite the occasional disaster (Year One, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist). It's suggestive of longevity and legitimate wit, and as somebody who wholeheartedly loves funny people in funny films, it's exciting. My score: 8/10

Fmovies: This film is defiantly an "offbeat" comedy. The humour is mixed throughout as though trying to please all audiences, combining cliché "teen movie" jokes with references to obscure films and literature, most likely lost on the average "American Pie" fan. The Tone is unbalanced and the narrative goes all over the place but I suppose that is the point. Acting is well delivered from all, with Cera playing the same socially awkward, insecure guy as usual (but what's wrong with that, he's the right actor for the role)

In short: The story is predictable but that's to be expected. The dialogue between the two leads is interesting and enjoyable. Music works excellently throughout, fitting of each scene. Colour is used well. Cinematography is fine (the scene where the two meet is clichéd but always nice to see.) 5/10. Strong first act, but the rest of the film failed to sustain that level. Worth viewing at least once for fans of the Cera and/or the genre.

Before you ever see the first shot of "Youth in Revolt," you know what's going on. A repetitive motion sound is heard as well as the flipping of pages. Nick Twisp (Cera) is masturbating and almost everyone in the theater knows it. Now that's testament to how far the R-rated comedy sexual revolution has come over the last decade, so it's not surprising to see a film so unabashed about teenage sex let alone one whose entire plot is driven by a teenager's zealous appetite to shed his virginity.

The always soft-spoken and awkwardly verbose Cera plays yet another character that fits his mold in Twisp, a teenager with divorced parents who loves Fellini films and vintage vinyl and really, really wants to get laid. It's a semi-romantic aspiration as well, but the depths to which he'll let his hormones take him is at times even implausibly absurd.

On vacation with his mother (Jean Smart) and her lover Jerry (Zach Galifianakis of "The Hangover"), Nick meets a perfect match in the daughter of two devout Christian trailer park folks named Sheeni Saunders and the two have an awkward but adorable summer fling. Newcomer Portia Doubleday makes an impression in this early portion of the film as Sheeni, teasing Nick and viewers with her poise and charm. When Nick has to go, he realizes their relationship (and his ascent to manhood) is at risk. He devises a scheme to get his father to move to Sheeni's town and his mother to get mad enough to send him to live there. The only problem, is that for it to work, sweet and innocent Nicky will have to be bad.

Nick invents an alternate persona for himself, one based on Sheeni's ideal man. He's a blue- eyed mustached, chain-smoking Frenchman named Francois Dillinger and he's Nick without hesitation or reservation. Cera does wisely in agreeing to be in this film because of this alter- ego aspect. Having to be Francois pushes Cera out of that same old wimpy character box and has him being frank -- and really dirty -- for once. If Cera doesn't want to flame out in the near future, he'll need more parts like this.

From here on out, "Youth in Revolt" sort of tumbles into a teenage daydream of all the insane things any good, normal kid would do for love and sex -- if it were all fiction. The creation of Francois doesn't exactly justify the ridiculous decisions Nick makes like burning down half of Berkeley, California, for example. It's fun, but not all that memorable.

I've never read the C.D. Payne novel, but you can tell it was much more extensive and that Gustin Nash had a hard time with the adaptation. All the events feel compressed, especially in the middle and last acts. Nothing builds gradually, it just gets stuck in. Some characters such as Sheeni's drug-endorsing older brother (Justin Long) who's snuck in toward the end, feel important to the story in an intangible way, but don't leave any particular impression.

Nash's adaptation, despite having the comedic dialog down, lacks a clear interpretation of Payne's story by which to tailor itself. In other words, deciding on one of the book's messages to craft the adaptation around might've helped eliminate certain parts of the story and alleviate the cramming. Director Miguel Arteta picks up on some subtler ideas such as how the many side characters act as insight on or inspire rebellious behavior, but they mostly get lost in the love story and Nick's sexual coming-of-age.

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Youth in Revolt fmovies. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this film, laughed throughout in fact, but as a whole I have to be critical. Including in comparison to other films similar to its nature and when it comes to films involving teens and sex, there are many to choose from. It's been a done a million times, so it's nice to see refreshing and moderately realistic scenario and character interaction, like that of "Superbad" or "Juno". The cast, for one thing is damn amazing. There are many excellent actors, like Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta, both did wonderfully. Zack Galifianakis and Justin Long were very well into their characters and I loved them on screen. A lot of the characters are pretty memorable, an aspect I enjoyed. I enjoyed seeing the character interaction which is the key to film-making at the base of it all. But Michael Cera as the awkward-nobody is beyond overdone. Sorry, but at this point I've seen too many times. Only when he's donning the Francois persona do I admire his performance and really embrace him as a character.

Not to mention the whole plot at a glance makes his character seem rather pathetic really. He steals cars, travels hundreds of miles, sabotages the girl's education, among many other ridiculous things all for one girl who half the time doesn't really seem to care about him that much. It's a love story I just can't connect with despite my attempts to. So check this one out for some crude laughs but not a masterpiece by any means.

C+

'Youth in Revolt' adapts the first three volumes of C.D. Payne's six-book series about Nick Twist, a smart and, in his own opinion anyway, more-than-usually horny 14-year-old in Oakland ("a large, torpid city across from San Frandisco") who reports in daily journal form on a series of adventures encountered on the way to losing his virginity, despite the obstacles set up by his irresponsible divorced parents. Ironically, though pointed at today's young teens, 'Revolt's' R rating excludes them -- though the books are far more sexually explicit. Whether somehow this will become a cult movie via Netflix is hard to say. It's pretty faithful to the books, leaving out lots, but adding or changing little. Unfortunately Arteta's flat direction, and focus on the action aspects -- an accident, a fire, a botched fake suicide, invasion of the girls' dorm of a French-language prep school in Santa Cruz -- excises much of the self-satisfied wit of the books and Nick's one flourish, his intellectual and literary showing off. The film necessarily loses the flavor of a day-to-day-journal, though most of the characters tend to talk in the same ornate, overly-polite style as Nick's entries.

C.D. Payne is no Salinger. His books serve as page-turners for young readers, but they're nothing special. There's a curious sense of being out of time. Is this the Nineties, when the books were begun?-- or the youth of Payne himself, who was born in 1949? Nick's girlfriend Sheeni (Portia Doubleday)'s fascination with Belmondo, chanteur Serge Gainsbourg, and the existentialists, -- and the general innocence of the behavior -- would suggest earlier days, but in the movie, people have cell phones, and a prevalance of 'shrooms and blunts makes this post-Breathless (francophile Sheeni's favorite movie). The main point was to keep the incidents coming, and Payne went on with "The Further Journals" and finally the adventures of Twist's younger brother.

Young Canadian actor Michael Cera, the star of Miguel Arteta's adaptation of this movie, who's now twenty-one, was already a TV veteran before he was ten. Though he appeared in many episodes of the cable series "Arrested Development," and in retrospect we realize he played the young Chuck Barris in George Clooney's droll ramble 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,' he reached a kind of nerdy, adorable mega-stardom only a couple years ago with two big hits, 'Juno' and 'Superbad,' followed by the equally charming if less seen 'Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.'

What has Mike done with his stardom? Well, he played opposite Jack Black in Harold Ramis' slapstick (and generally panned) prehistoric comedy 'Year One' and co-starred with his now ex-girlfriend Charlene Yi in the poorly received 'Paper Heart.'

Cera has good timing and is adept at delivering lines, which makes him well suited for comedy. His limitations in other areas appear in this new outing. He's both the hero and voice-over narrator, Nick Twist and Nick's bolder and more dashing imaginary alter ego, Francois, who goads him on to bolder action. There is a certain nonchalance in the flat style. Under ideal circumstances it might seem elegant. If you could be nerdy and cool at the same time Michael Cera is it, and girls do find him cute. He rarely appears anything but relaxed. But the high-pitched voice is inexpressive. The range is from A to B, and this is

Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) is sixteen years old, his parents are separated, his closest friend his having a midlife crisis over thirty years too early and all he can think about is the fact that he hasn't lost his virginity yet. He is almost the common replica of the stereotypical teenage boy, except for the fact that he enjoys the films of Fellini and Godard. Everything changes however for Nick when a brief, chance move from his lonely hometown of Oakland to a religious mobile trailer park in the small city of Ukiah brings him face to face with Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) – who is unequivocally the love of his life. But when his family moves back to Oakland, Nick must invent a supplementary 'bad-boy' persona within himself named Francois (he has a moustache, and enjoys the occasional smoke), who would be willing to cause the mayhem Nick wouldn't. Francois's central objective is to get Nick kicked out of his dysfunctional home in Oakland, which he shares with his emotionally fragile mother (Jean Smart), and reunited with Sheeni, with the intention of living happily ever after (while also losing his virginity).

'Youth in Revolt', is another hip, quirky comedy in which Michael Cera is given centre-stage in which to showcase abilities, however, he must tread cautiously in the future as he is dangerously close to becoming typecast (Superbad, Juno) as the desolate, yet intellectual teenage boy just looking to release his sexual burden. Cera and Doubleday carry the film along nicely, and provide some very humorous on-screen chemistry, especially during the sequences involving very awkward circumstances – i.e. when Nick is asked to place a small amount of sun cream on Sheeni's back during a trip to the beach. Portia Doubleday in particular shines as unknown actress thrust into the supporting actress slot alongside Michael Cera. She works with a particular grace, and maturity that makes her performance at times overshadow that of the experience Cera.

While aside from these two characters, Arteta's film also has an extensive A-list cast on show who take a backseat to the main story and occasionally chime in during the various convoluted sub-plots on show. Steve Buscemi is Nick's jobless father George Twisp, Zack Galifianakis is Nick's mothers first boyfriend Jerry who should never be let out around the Navy, and Ray Liotta plays Officer Wescott, a fascist policeman who also starts dating Nick's mother and becomes somewhat responsible for Nick's downfall. Fred Willard (Mr Ferguson), Justin Long (Paul Saunders) and M. Emmet Walsh (Mr Saunders) also make an appearance in the extensive cast. Despite this list containing the 'whose who' of Hollywood Boulevard, I was surprised to see that certain narrative arcs were ignored. For instance, if the relationship between Nick and his father was expanded upon, it would have provided further substance to the film and the characters themselves. Though, unfortunately we are left filling in the majority of the gaps ourselves.

Miguel Arteta has created a very funny and witty film in 'Youth in Revolt,' that despite having its flaws and areas in which it could have improved upon, ultimately prevails as another competent coming-of-age teen-flick that is centred around the holiest of teenage sanctities: sexual intercourse. The amusing remarks, awkward sexual situations, and hardcore French supplementary personas are all there creating another comfortable vehicle for Cera, to drive to a French Boarding School.