Youth in Revolt, which is based on a novel by
C.D. Payne, is a teenage rebellion film that comes across like Fight
Club for young hipsters. Even though the film sometimes tries a bit too hard to be edgy, Youth in Revolt is a funny, dirty, and stylish comedy. Michael Cera plays Nick Twist is a precocious 16 year old nerd with raging hormones and none of the moves necessary to get next to a lady. When he isn't thinking about sex or masturbating, Nick channels his remaining energy into writing, reading, listening to Frank Sinatra, and watching arthouse films. Nick's parents (Steve Buscemi and Jean Smart) are divorced, and he stays with his mother so she can continue to get child support checks. While on vacation with his mom and her boyfriend (Zach Galifanakis), Nick encounters the pretentious girl of his dreams: Shennie Sanders (Portia Doubleday). Shennie is obsessed with French culture. Serge Gainsbourg is her favorite musician, pictures of Jean-Paul Belmondo, and she dreams of an ideal Frenchman. Nick and Shennie fool around, but the big obstacle on Nick's path to sexual awakening is Trent (Jonathan B. Wright), a suave, popular guy that Shennie has been dating. When Nick's brief vacation nears an end, Shannie tells him that he can't compete with Trent unless he breaks out of his shell. In response, Nick invents an imaginary persona named Francois Dillinger (Michael Cera again). Nick and Francois, who embodies everything Shannie wants, then go on a rampage to win Shennie's heart.
Youth in Revolt puts an anarchic, comical spin on teenage love and rebellion. The story of a boy who sets out to win the heart of his dream girl is nothing new. However, instead of winning a football game or getting the best grades, the boy in this film goes on a crime spree to impress his girl. The humor is often profane and vulgar, which is be expected from a comedy about young guy trying to bed his dream girl. The humor is also plays heavily with hipster references and teenage ideas of superiority to adults. Nick and Shennie are hormone-driven teens, but they always seem to be a little smarter or more clued in than their parents, who are in either divorced and messed up or stifling fundamentalists. Some of the humor is clever, but fairly esoteric (e.g., jokes about Federico Fellini, Seijun Suzuki and Yasizuru Ozu). This hipster-friendly approach could have easily turned out to be obnoxious, but Gustin Nash's screenplay is consistently funny and the narrative is engaging.
Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday are the heart of Youth in Revolt. Cera rises to the challenge presented by the dual performances. He is very comfortable as Nick Twisp. This isn't too much of a surprise since Cera has been playing this type of character for most of his career. Francois Dillinger is the exact opposite of Cera's typical role so its really fun to watch him play a suave bad boy. His deadpan delivery and perfect comic timing are on fully display here. Portia Doubleday is great as Michael Cera's love interest. She really conveys the character's pretense of sophistication as well as her naivety.
Miguel Arteta's direction is stylish but conscious of the story. He uses a range of techniques in telling this story, including animation. The title credits feature feature a clay animation sequence, and a few other scenes are either fully or partially animated. It's a nice touch that works well with the story.
YOUTH IN REVOLT was much better than I figured it would be (the Weinsteins have the worst marketing department in existence), but it felt like it was suspiciously short. I guess that's better than being a neverending slog, but with this company, I tend to assume the worst, which in this case is Harvey Weinstein running around beating intern editors with a sock containing a severed puppy's head as he screams "MAKE IT MORE LIKE A WES ANDERSON AMERICAN PIE MOVIE GODDAAMMIT!!!! GET THIS THING UNDER 90 MINUTES IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE YOUR KIDS AGAIN!" But I digress.
Michael Cera's performance, like the film, was better than I expected. After seeing him play Francois, I'm thinking I'd like to see him attempt a full-on villain and soon. I never liked Justin Long in anything, but he does solid work here. Get used to seeing Portia Doubleday around; she expertly navigates what could have easily become a not-particularly-sympathetic role.
However, the film used animation too frequently, dulling the impact of the one scene in the movie where using animation actually made sense. The animation (that mostly shouldn't have been there) was well done, though. And the film as a whole could have been a bit more vulgar and shocking - nothing here approaches the most inappropriate moments of something like SEX IS ZERO. It feels a bit toned down from what I'd like - but might that be a faithful representation of the original novel?
I'd still recommend it... and that's coming from someone who's impatiently, bitterly waiting for the Weinstein Company to go the f**k out of business already.
I'm a bit skeptical about this film. I'm getting tired of screenplays which think that by throwing around a few culturally obscure yet significant names, that makes their characters seem more clever. But how many kids know who, for example, Francois Truffault is?
Cera needs to do MORE Francois Dillinger!!
The two characters playing off each other worked much better than I had expected and was certainly a refreshing change from Cera's usual work...
Cera needs to do MORE Francois Dillinger!!
The two characters playing off each other worked much better than I had expected and was certainly a refreshing change from Cera's usual work...