Youth in Revolt review
Nick Twisp is living a teen nightmare.
His trailer-trash Mom (Jean Smart) is having an affair with a gross lout (Zach Galifianakis).
His unemployed Dad (Steve Buscemi) has hooked up with a bikinied babe (Ari Graynor) only a couple of years older than Nick.
And the girl of his dreams, Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), already has a boyfriend.
What's a 14-year-old, hormonally infused, geeky guy to do?
Well, Nick's solution is simple: He invents an alter ego, Francois Dillinger, who is his opposite in every way. And then he follows all the bad-boy advice Francois can offer, which is plenty.
The adventures of Nick and Francois, played by Michael Cera and Michael Cera, make up the hilarious "Youth in Revolt," a madcap twist on the traditional loss-of-virginity film that has been filling multiplexes for the past three decades.
Directed by Miguel Arteta ("Chuck and Buck," "The Good Girl") and adapted by Gustin Nash ("Charlie Bartlett") from C.D. Payne's modern teen angst classic, "Youth in Revolt" starts out with a much classier pedigree than most such films. "Porky's" this ain't.
That pedigree is reinforced all the more by a stellar cast, which also includes Justin Long and veterans Fred Willard, Mary Kay Place, Ray Liotta and M. Emmet Walsh. Nobody scrimped on the talent here.
That said, this is Cera's movie (actually it's Cera and Cera's movie), the first time the "Superbad" and "Juno" star has been absolute front and center in a film. And he kills.
Yes, he's still playing Michael Cera. Who cares? Clint Eastwood is still playing Clint Eastwood, John Wayne always played John Wayne and Adam Sandler always plays Adam Sandler.
It's hard to tell if Cera's persona will be able to age as well as others -- he so epitomizes awkward youth it's hard to imagine him at 45. But then again, people are awkward at any age.
The nice thing about "Youth," though, is that it lets Cera parody his own naivete with the character of Francois, a good boy's idea of a bad boy.
In the midst of a seduction Francois will say something straight out of a bad French movie, and then Nick will haltingly check to make sure Francois hasn't gone too far. And whenever Francois takes Nick over to the dark side, you can sense our hero being torn between secret desire and common sense.
A lot of credit has to go to director Arteta here for keeping the interior tension going and the humor flowing while actually building Nick into a character you love.
True, it's mostly about the laughs, but Arteta keeps those laughs building, no easy trick.
For the geography-minded, the film -- for no real reason -- is supposed to take place in California, but it was shot in Michigan. Here's a surprise: Michigan looks nothing like California.
But again, who cares?
"Youth in Revolt" is a teen fantasy filled with lust, imagination, frustration and lots of laughs, artfully made and superbly played.
Let's hope it's a sign of things to come -- for Cera, movie audiences and 2010.
His trailer-trash Mom (Jean Smart) is having an affair with a gross lout (Zach Galifianakis).
His unemployed Dad (Steve Buscemi) has hooked up with a bikinied babe (Ari Graynor) only a couple of years older than Nick.
And the girl of his dreams, Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), already has a boyfriend.
What's a 14-year-old, hormonally infused, geeky guy to do?
Well, Nick's solution is simple: He invents an alter ego, Francois Dillinger, who is his opposite in every way. And then he follows all the bad-boy advice Francois can offer, which is plenty.
The adventures of Nick and Francois, played by Michael Cera and Michael Cera, make up the hilarious "Youth in Revolt," a madcap twist on the traditional loss-of-virginity film that has been filling multiplexes for the past three decades.
Directed by Miguel Arteta ("Chuck and Buck," "The Good Girl") and adapted by Gustin Nash ("Charlie Bartlett") from C.D. Payne's modern teen angst classic, "Youth in Revolt" starts out with a much classier pedigree than most such films. "Porky's" this ain't.
That pedigree is reinforced all the more by a stellar cast, which also includes Justin Long and veterans Fred Willard, Mary Kay Place, Ray Liotta and M. Emmet Walsh. Nobody scrimped on the talent here.
That said, this is Cera's movie (actually it's Cera and Cera's movie), the first time the "Superbad" and "Juno" star has been absolute front and center in a film. And he kills.
Yes, he's still playing Michael Cera. Who cares? Clint Eastwood is still playing Clint Eastwood, John Wayne always played John Wayne and Adam Sandler always plays Adam Sandler.
It's hard to tell if Cera's persona will be able to age as well as others -- he so epitomizes awkward youth it's hard to imagine him at 45. But then again, people are awkward at any age.
The nice thing about "Youth," though, is that it lets Cera parody his own naivete with the character of Francois, a good boy's idea of a bad boy.
In the midst of a seduction Francois will say something straight out of a bad French movie, and then Nick will haltingly check to make sure Francois hasn't gone too far. And whenever Francois takes Nick over to the dark side, you can sense our hero being torn between secret desire and common sense.
A lot of credit has to go to director Arteta here for keeping the interior tension going and the humor flowing while actually building Nick into a character you love.
True, it's mostly about the laughs, but Arteta keeps those laughs building, no easy trick.
For the geography-minded, the film -- for no real reason -- is supposed to take place in California, but it was shot in Michigan. Here's a surprise: Michigan looks nothing like California.
But again, who cares?
"Youth in Revolt" is a teen fantasy filled with lust, imagination, frustration and lots of laughs, artfully made and superbly played.
Let's hope it's a sign of things to come -- for Cera, movie audiences and 2010.
Labels: library
posted by Tom at
12:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home