Youth in Revolt

The most accessible criticism of Michael Cera’s career thus far is that he plays the same character in every movie. True enough. What isn’t discussed enough is just how entertaining his reluctant, bashful, bumbling persona is. And how, unlike Will Ferrell who also only plays one character, and only speaks to infantile grown men interested in sports, Cera is relatable to most anybody who survived high school.

 

Here he finally attempts to pass the torch from George Michael Bluth (and all its other incarnations) to whatever lies ahead by playing both Nick (old) and his alter ego Francois (new). Nick is a  perpetually sexually frustrated high schooler with a taste for the arts and a keen recognition that all the filth that surrounds him is getting some while he is not. If only he were the guy mocking Fellini instead of watching Fellini then the girls would be interested in him.

 

The plot moves at a breakneck speed but here it is in short: His family (or should we say his mom and her lover boy) are on the run from a gang of pissed off sailors so they pick up and move into the most dilapidated trailer you’ve ever seen. There he meets the beautifully ripe Sheeni (Portia Doubleday) and falls in love . . . and that is when everything starts to fall apart. First his family moves back home separating him from Sheeni so he comes up with devious little plan to force his dad to move into Sheeni’s neighborhood and then get kicked out of his mom’s house.

 

She, unfortunately, has a death grip, not on him but on the child support he brings in. A monumental act of vandalism seals the deal though and soon he is reunited with Sheeni, for about a scene, until her parents get downwind of what actually happened and send her away to school in Santa Cruz. He follows . . . etc, etc, etc. As with all great sex comedies, and this is one of the finest, sex and the girl remain an ever elusive oasis to our protagonist.

 

All along the way Francois is there to school him on how to be dirtier, nastier, braver; all in the name of winning her heart. And win it he does but in the process he manages to burn the rest of his life to the ground. Director Miguel Arteta handles the material very well; he avoids any big risks while remaining sufficiently offensive. How can you not love a movie that is audacious enough to casually drop bulimia jokes?

 

Less interesting are his villains, namely Sheeni’s parents and older brother. Hard core religious folk trying to stamp out teenage sexuality and the squariest of squares are pretty easy targets to hit so when he really sticks it to them nobody is impressed. But at least he has his heart in the right place and all can be forgiven because he is working with a script stuffed with hilarious sight gags and laugh out loud lines and an actor, Cera, who makes every scene better than it should be.

 

Youth in Revolt also works because it deals honestly with something everybody goes through. Us guys laugh because at some point we have all been dumped by some girl who is obsessed with some meathead who writes “futurist percussive poetry” (or something equally absurd). It also doesn’t dwell on the uncomfortable laughs than can be harvested from amateurish sexual encounters but rather on all the silly, cringe inducing things we do to win and hold on to love. It is almost unheard of to proclaim a January release a shoe in for that year’s Top 10 list but that is exactly what we are going to do. It is far better than any comedy that came out last year and will be tough to beat this year. After Superbad, Juno, and now this (not to mention the also excellent though slightly different Arrested Development and Paper Heart) it is hard to imagine why Michael Cera would want to move away from what he does so well.

 

Starring: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Fred Willard

Director: Miguel Arteta

Writer: Gustin Nash (based on the book by C.D. Payne)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Rated: R

Distributor: Dimension Films