FILM REVIEW: 'YOUTH IN REVOLT'

Desperate to Impress, to be Different; It Tries a Little Too Hard to Get Laid

By: Josh Moorhead

January 3, 2010

(Dimension Films) Have you ever wished, in those moments where you doubt yourself, that you didn’t do or say the bold thing — that some mustached, chain-smoking, finely dressed, raspy-voiced and vaguely French version of you just drove your Mom’s ex-boyfriend’s car into the local coffee shop, resulting in a massive explosion? Yeah, me too.

As a film, Youth In Revolt is desperate to impress, to entertain, to be different; it tries too hard to get laid.Have you ever wished, in those moments where you doubt yourself, that you didn't do or say the bold thing -- that some mustached, chain-smoking, finely dressed, raspy-voiced and vaguely French version of you just drove your Mom's ex-boyfriend's car into the local coffee shop, resulting in a massive explosion? Yeah, me too.

In Youth In Revolt -- the soon-to-be released adaptation of C.D. Payne's 1993 novel by the same name -- this is exactly what happens to Nick Twisp as played by Michael Cera. Again, we have Michael Cera playing Michael Cera...or at least what we believe Michael Cera to be after so many similar roles in the likes of Superbad to Year One. In fact, Cera has already played a fidgety, holier-than-thou dweeb named Nick before in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Hey, that was a book too!

But it's easy to see why Cera did take this job -- he also gets to play Twisp's alter-ego, Francios Dillinger. He's the kind of bad-ass that does horrible things and has a horrible attitude but is all the more irresistible for it. I don't know, maybe it's the mustache. In the film, Twisp invents Dillinger so he can make himself capable of doing the things he must to win the love of "Sheeni" Saunders, a girl he meets at a campsite outside his hometown. See, Nick's life sucks. He's a pretentious virgin who's poorly dressed and cares a lot more about Kirosawa and Sinatra than whatever his peers might be buying into. He can come off as a bit of a prick but in all the unattractive ways. Part of his unpleasantness comes from the fact that his Dad (Steve Buscemi) and Mom (Jean Smart) are separated and sleazy. Both don't really hold jobs. Dad's banging a hottie. Mom's shacking up with Zach Galifinakis playing a less-than-honest trucker. When said trucker gets into some trouble, it's off to a camping weekend to skip town, and Nick meets Sheeni, who's every bit as eccentric as Nick but manages to play it sexy. She is trapped in a mobile home under tyrannical religious parents and a drugged-out older brother. She's obsessed with the French. For her and Nick to continue their fling, he needs to move to her town; to move to her town, he has to be kicked out of his Mom's; to get kicked out of his Mom's, he has to be bad. "Can you be bad for me, Nicky?" Sheeni wonders.

Nick cannot, but Francios, the kind of European alpha male Sheeni yearns for, can and does. And we're off to the races. The races are wacky. Yeah, remember that cartoon Wacky Races? Well, there's even cartoons in this movie. This is a movie that tries damn hard. It's a collection of comedic situations and bits that play to varying degrees of effectiveness but could have landed home more often if the film itself didn't come off as pretentious and unpleasant as Nick, more often than not.

The dialogue is something of Juno meets Fraser. You watch this movie and you're keenly aware you're watching a movie because no one talks this way. Especially "youths." Even though this movie doesn't pretend to be based in realities like Superbad or Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist were, it is still set in a very real place called California, where everything and everyone, besides the characters in the movie, is played straight. It blurs the lines of madcap fantasy and situational comedy, fantasy and reality, but not in the rewarding way that movies can.

The animation sequences are inspired and unique; the situations author Payne invented way back were inventive and paced in such a way that the plot of the film lines up and falls like dominoes. But I just don't know if I liked it. In the end, there is a message to the madness, and the cast is very strong -- something in the material obviously drew them in. And playing a Fight Club multiple destructive personality bit for laughs is an interesting premise, but it's just not that fun, at the end of it, all to be watching a movie that thinks it's better than you -- or at least that's how the too-on-the-nose dialogue and even some of the gimmicks make you feel. I'll blame that on the original material.

As a film, Youth In Revolt is also desperate to impress, to entertain, to be different; it tries too hard to get laid. But maybe, if you have your guard down, it might just charm ya.

'Youth In Revolt' is in limited theatrical release now.