Youth in Revolt Review

Director Miguel Arteta, certificate 15, 90 minutes, out Friday 5^th February

Michael Cera has a tendency, it seems, to play one character and one character only. You know the one: kind of weird, awkward around girls but with a nice line in sharp witticisms. Whether he’s playing George Michael in the superlative sitcom Arrested Development, horny teen in Superbad or teen father in Juno, Cera has yet to properly stretch his range. This trend changes slightly in Youth in Revolt. In time-honoured teen comedy tradition, boy meets girl and boy wants to bang said girl. Of course, it’s never as simple as that and Youth in Revolt hampers Nick Twisp (Cera)’s attempts to do the deed with Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) with the usual mix of meddling parents, ghastly love rival and unfortunate circumstance.

In an effort to overcome these problems, wet Nick adopts a new personality, the considerably more suave and daring Francois Dillinger. As Dillinger, Nick is able to pull off the kind of crazy shit that he believes will ultimately bring him and his beloved together. Nick encounters reams of characters in his quest to get his girl, each more entertaining than the last. Take, for example, Ray Liotta’s opportunistic cop, Steve Buscemi’s creepy dad or Justin Long’s off-kilter magic mushroom fiend. The strength of the considerable cast is probably Youth in Revolt’s greatest attribute.

Other likeable aspects of the film include a wittier-than-average script – some of Francois’ lines are brilliantly rude – and an eye pleasing colour pallet. Tony Fanning’s production design gives Nick’s world a bright and colourful sheen that contrasts his surly world-view. There are also some amusingly quirky moments in the script too. Some sailors take revenge on Nick’s swindling step-father in a most bizarre and amusing way and the Saunders’ family home is a fairly unorthodox establishment.

On the less than appealing side, during the film, the realisation will hit you that you’re simply watching another American Pie or Road Trip that fancies itself as being a bit clever ‘cause it’s based off a book, has twee animated sequences and references Fellini. This realisation hits pretty much when Nick and sidekick Vijay (Adhir Kalyan) are fleeing naked from a female dormitory they’ve sneaked into. Now there’s nothing wrong with gross-out teen comedies per se, but for some reason I assumed Youth in Revolt would offer something more. The ‘moral message’ at the end also hits you in the face like an egged John Prescott and is about as subtle as Katie Price.

The film’s general good nature and Cera’s ability, often with nothing more than vacant look, to conjure a constant stream of titters (if not full-on belly laughs), however, overrule these criticisms. The lead actor’s ability to balance his dual role speaks promise for future projects, hopefully in ways that will stretch his abilities further. Youth in Revolt is not without its flaws, but all but the most cynical of cinema-goers should enjoy the fun while it lasts.

http://www.london-student.net/2010/02/16/youth-in-revolt-review/