Youth in Revolt
Director: Miguel Arteta.
Written By: Gustin Nash.
Photography: Chuy Chávez.
Starring: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Ray Liotta.
Year: 2009.
Country: USA.
After becoming a household name from the perfect but short lived FOX comedy, Arrested Development, and two of 2007's biggest films, Juno and Superbad, Canadian teen actor Michael Cera became typecast before you could even say Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
When it was discovered that Chuy Chávez was releasing an adaptation of the C. D. Payne novel, Youth in Revolt, about a sixteen year old who creates a separate, evil, personality to impress a girl (Portia Doubleday), it seemed we where finally going to see another side of Michael Cera.
Nick Twisp (Cera) is sixteen, a geek and a virgin. Though not the traditional geek that's into Magic the Gathering and Superman, but a more new age geek that's into Jean-Luc Godard and Frank Sinatra, sometimes referred to as "Hipster Geeks" which I object to, liking foreign language movies for their artistic value does not make you a hipster. But I digress. When Nick discovers the charming francophile, Sheeni Saunders, he thinks that Nick Twisp isn't enough to win her heart, so he invents himself an evil alter-ego called François Dillinger. The evil François Dillinger isn't much different from the feeble and awkward Nick Twisp, he just has a pencil moustache and a cigarette. Which is fine, it adds comic value and I like Michael Cera so it's okay, it just doesn't do any favours for his career.
There are some laugh out loud moments in Youth in Revolt, but it falls short of passing the six laugh test for comedies. Youth in Revolt had the potential to be a film for a generation, but instead it will become forgotten in time. It's inspired me to read the book but I can't see me myself ever watching the film again.
Score: 3/5
Year: 2009.
Country: USA.
After becoming a household name from the perfect but short lived FOX comedy, Arrested Development, and two of 2007's biggest films, Juno and Superbad, Canadian teen actor Michael Cera became typecast before you could even say Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
When it was discovered that Chuy Chávez was releasing an adaptation of the C. D. Payne novel, Youth in Revolt, about a sixteen year old who creates a separate, evil, personality to impress a girl (Portia Doubleday), it seemed we where finally going to see another side of Michael Cera.
Nick Twisp (Cera) is sixteen, a geek and a virgin. Though not the traditional geek that's into Magic the Gathering and Superman, but a more new age geek that's into Jean-Luc Godard and Frank Sinatra, sometimes referred to as "Hipster Geeks" which I object to, liking foreign language movies for their artistic value does not make you a hipster. But I digress. When Nick discovers the charming francophile, Sheeni Saunders, he thinks that Nick Twisp isn't enough to win her heart, so he invents himself an evil alter-ego called François Dillinger. The evil François Dillinger isn't much different from the feeble and awkward Nick Twisp, he just has a pencil moustache and a cigarette. Which is fine, it adds comic value and I like Michael Cera so it's okay, it just doesn't do any favours for his career.
There are some laugh out loud moments in Youth in Revolt, but it falls short of passing the six laugh test for comedies. Youth in Revolt had the potential to be a film for a generation, but instead it will become forgotten in time. It's inspired me to read the book but I can't see me myself ever watching the film again.
Score: 3/5
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