Be Bad!

Michael Cera is a great actor, and this movie is no different. Youth in Revolt is more subtle than you would think, given the title and premise.

Nick is a 16 year old with not many friends, a screwed up family, and worst of all, he is a virgin. Upon meeting Sheeni, he falls in love with her instantly, and will do anything to be with her. This involves creating an alter ego, and becoming an outlaw.

My only real complaint is that it seemed to me that they put just enough F-words in this to get it rated R. The swearing could have been cut down to make this PG-13, to appeal to a broader audience.

This is a simple teen comedy, but adults will like it too, it's very well written with a good plot, good actors that fit their characters, and plenty of laughs. Check it out, you won't regret it.

"Youth in Revolt" is original. It's not quite like any "teen movie" I've ever seen. Just as its source material offered a fresh twist to the dork-meets-girl scenario in ink, the film offers the twist on screen.

"Youth in Revolt" centers on unconventional teenage rebels; these aren't the hoodlums you'd expect to see smoking pot on street corners. In fact, these characters are essentially adults trapped in awkward teenage frames. They have sophisticated tastes and profound desires, but they also carry themselves clumsily and desperately try to shed their virginity. This mature immaturity makes both Nick (Cera) and Sheeni (Doubleday), along with a number of minor characters they meet throughout the film, compelling and unique human beings.

As Nick Twisp, Michael Cera carries the film. His awkwardly clever narration provides for fairly consistent laughter, and his quest for Sheeni's heart puts him through a dramatic ringer. As good as Cera is as lovable loser Nick, nothing can prepare the audience for his work as Twisp's alter-ego: Francois Dillinger. Dillinger is the anti-Nick, which also makes him the anti-Michael Cera, but Cera pulls off his boldness and iron will hilariously. Cera's dual performance keeps the film fresh when it begins to get a little dull.

As Sheeni, the primary love interest, Portia Doubleday concocts an unconventional leading lady. She seems to embody every characteristic of the female teenager at the same time, and it's not hard to see why Nick would idolize her.

The film focuses on Cera and Doubleday for the most part, and their relationship is strange, and therefore refreshing. Clichés are avoided, unexpected roadblocks pop up, and teenage love rears its ugly, fascinating face. The romance seems real, as well as funny.

When 'Youth in Revolt" turns its focus away from the youths, it's hit-or-miss. Jean Smart is fine as Cera's aloof mother, but the character itself is one-dimensional and strangely conventional for such a nonconformist movie. Steve Buscemi is fine as the father, but he's not given much to do. The standouts among the supporting players include Fred Willard as an immigrant-phile, Justin Long as Sheeni's stoner brother, Mary Kay Place as Sheeni's Bible-wielding mother, and the two unknowns who portray Nick's friends, Lefty and BJ.

Aside from a couple of intentionally quirky animated sequences and one or two clichéd stock characters, "Youth in Revolt" plays by its own rules, and it wins marvelously.

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.

"Youth In Revolt" is an explicit teenage Rated-R comedy, but not a raunchy one, which ultimately makes it more respectable than more than half the genre off-the-bat. Much respect to The Weinstein Co. and Dimension Films for not trying to taper back for a PG-13 considering R closes the film off to half its intended audience. At the same time, it's not as unique or genre-changing as Areta's indie stylings try and make it out to be. Once again, audiences have grown accustomed to an assortment of male genital references and open discussion about sex. But there are some good performances from young actors and clever dialog in "Youth in Revolt" and it deserves a viewing.

~Steven C

http://moviemusereviews.com

When you hear that Michael Cera will be playing yet another nerdy virginal dweeb, your first reaction is likely to include a couple of eyerolls and other dismissive motions. Here he plays an effete high schooler named Nick Twisp who thinks he's found the girl of his dreams during a lakefront vacation. Only to get the girl he needs to man up and become more dangerous, so he invents a subpersona named Francois, a dashing lad full of derring-do. This black comedy has plenty of laughs amid a wacky, absurdist atmosphere.

Nick Twisp. Great name for a fictional character; terrible name for a real person, I would think. Nick is into Frank Sinatra, his computer, and classic prose; he lives with his trailer-trash mom (Jean Smart) and her ne'er-do-well current boyfriend (played with laid-back zeal by Zach Galifianakis). Nick is as stammery as any other Michael Cera character, and his approach to the fairer sex is, unsurprisingly, ineffective.

Things look up when he meets neighbor Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday, who is both enigmatic and ebullient as Sheeni), who's gorgeous and fun to be with. It's not long before Nick decides Sheeni's the one for him. But it's quickly revealed that Sheeni already has a boyfriend, a real manly man named Trent. How can anyone played by Michael Cera compete with a guy named Trent? Easy – by inventing an alter ego that gives voice to his rampaging id, a rogueish cad named Francois (because Sheeni loves French things). Francois allows Nick to do and say things that he'd never otherwise say.

And that's when things really take off. The pleasure of this movie is twofold. First, Cera's delivery and the script by Gustin Nash go together like Forrest Gump and Jenny. The jokes are often laugh-out-loud quality, and it's at least partly due to Cera's sometimes-mumbled, frightened-rabbit replies. His funny lines are played straight, and somehow it works. Second, the absurd escalating situations in which Nick finds himself – as a result of his own actions, it should be noted – are funny the same way Mr. Creosote's predicament was funny in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. The stuff Nick does at the behest of Francois to win Sheemi's heart are hilarious yet unlikely – and yet they ring true nonetheless.

It also helps that Cera is supported by some damn funny actors: Galifianakis is a hoot in a somewhat dark role; Steve Buscemi plays Nick's dad with vulgar intensity (as if he were a domesticated version of Mr. Pink); Justin Long, of all people, is Sheeni's stoner older brother; M. Emmett Walsh (who's perhaps a tad too old to be the father of a teen) is Sheeni's dad; Mary Kay Place is the mom; Smart as Nick's mom; and Adhir Kalyan as a fellow student who helps Nick in his quest for Sheeni. Oh, and Fred Willard as a neighbor who likes to save illegal immigrants from the INS.

I know the word "quirky" is overused for oddball comedies today, particularly those starring Michael Cera (who, if he plays another Nick, may as well dot his face with bloodied pieces of tissue paper), but this one outquirks most of them. Even with all the madness zooming around this film, at the heart of things is the love between a girl and a boy and the lengths either will go to protect that bond. This movie should appeal to those who like offbeat romances.

'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 highlighted by how little success Cera has in making Francois seem any different from Nick, despite a little mustache, tight pants, and a lot of cigarettes (amusingly, puffed on even while running fast through the woods, while Nick lags clumsily behind). With this new performance, Cera continues to seem enormously appealing, but for conventional starring roles, cripplingly limited. He's just too pale and bland and androgynous, and the more he's cast as a horny guy the more far-fetched that seems. Anything with him in it seems de-fanged.

Maybe it doesn't matter. You either get it or you don't, and there are plenty of young readers who insist these are "the best books ever." This is as good a time as any for some lighthearted teenage adventures. (The adaptation was co-written by Gustin Nash, the guy who did 'Charlie Bartlett,' a so-so movie about a young high school entrepreneur starring Anton Yelchin.)

'Youth in Revolt' casts some veritable cult actors, who include M. Emmett Walsh as Sheeni's born-again-Christian dad and Mary Kay Place as her mom, Steve Buscemi as Nick's dad, Ray Liotta as a cop who gets involved with his floozy mom (Jean Smart). But the presence of such memorable thespians only emphasizes how little developed their characters are. I liked relative newcomer Adhir Kalyan as Veejay, Nick's erudite school friend and fellow would-be seducer of women: he gives his lines some juice. Best of all is Justin Long, who slides into the scene as Sheeni's sly older brother. He is the only unexpected character. Long can always do a lot with a small part, and when he gets a bigger one, like in Raimi's recent old-fashioned horror movie 'Drag Me to Hell,' he can be equally appealing. And there are others, such as comedy veteran Fred Willard as an excessively good-hearted neighbor.

The director, Miguel Arteta, did annoying but memorable work with writer Mike White in 'Chuck and Buck,' and the pair made something very droll in 'The Good Girl.' One wonders if Arteta was the ideal person to do this job. He seems just to be walking through it.

The Eighties were the time of the movies that celebrated youth and its many voices, ranging from S.E. Hinton and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' to the dark Alpha Girl portraiture of 'Heathers,' and John Hughes' classics. This lacks their warmth and bite.

But I still like Cera, and as has been said by a preview audience member, "His fans will be in heaven" with this.