Youth In Revolt: Just Another Michael Cera Movie?



This weekend, the new Michael Cera film Youth in Revolt opened in theaters.  The nerdy-looking comedy star came to stardom in roles like Paulie Bleeker in the playful teen pregnancy drama Juno back in 2007 and best friend hipster comedy Superbad in the same year.  However, after his last debacle of a film, Year One, an attempt at comedy with whom I think is the least funny person on the planet, Jack Black, I was weary of putting myself through another of Cera’s filmed descents.  However, I was intrigued to find out if the role of polite speaking, awkward, sweetheart fading for Cera.

Youth in Revolt is based on a novel by C.D Payne Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp. Cera plays Nick Twisp, an awkward, love struck teen (one of his best type of roles) who is willing to go to great lengths to get the girl he “loves”.  Twisp lives a mundane life of being shuttled between his divorced parents and their sometimes numerous significant others.  He soon realizes that, he alone cannot get the girl, Shenni (Portia Doubleday) that he loves or rather wants to sleep with. So, Twisp creates an alter ego, François—a cool and sophisticated Romeo that has the guts to do what it takes.

To my satisfaction, “François” opens up Cera to a slightly, wider range to the characters that he played so far. François manages to destroy Twisp’s treasured collection of vinyl records, steal his mom’s car that he blows up that same car along with half a city block, which forces Twisp to be on the run from the police. So, does he get the girl before the cops get him? Well, I’m not going to be the one to give away an ending.

I gave Youth in Revolt a C+. While it wasn’t nearly as disappointing as Year One, I found it to be trying a little hard. With so many attempts at the “we’re young adults” persona, practically exclaimed in the overly sophisticated dialogue and the excessive hipster vibe given off by each teenage character, it was sometimes hard to take the storyline seriously. The few drug scenes and the numerous displays of sexual tension/confusion offered some pretty funny material.

Overall, the storyline was a bit slow moving though, in the end, satisfactory. It is classic Michael Cera in a teenage indie flick colored with prop accents, multiple sexual references, and, most of all, a ton of humor geared toward teenagers.

Author: Crissy Zamarron