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Capsule review: ‘Youth in Revolt’
Michael Cera (“Juno,” “Superbad”) has seemingly become the one-valve Miles Davis of the acting world. He plays one note, and he plays the hell out of it. But even if the great Miles could only play one note, the tune would eventually become tiresome.
With his role in the new darkishly comic “Youth in Revolt,” many wondered if Cera would show a little more dexterity and range and break out of his twee cinematic mold. The answer is kind of.
Based on C.D. Payne’s 1993 novel, the film tells the story of young Nick Twisp, a bon vivant (at least in his mind), who prefers the works of Frank Sinatra and Federico Fellini to the immature predilections of his peers. But he does share one obsession undoubtedly similar to those of all adolescents — he wants to lose his virginity.
When his low-brow mother (Jean Smart) and her boyfriend (a woefully underused and unfortunately predictable Zach Galifianakis) head to a Christian RV park for a summer trip, young Twisp’s life takes a turn for the titillating when he meets Sheeni, an intellectual Lolita, played by Portia Doubleday in a sweet breakout leading role.
Determined to win the heart of the peaches and cream young temptress who is a lover of all things French, Twisp develops an alter-ego, Francois Dillinger, who dares the nervous sexual neophyte into a world of arson and bold adventure, promising to “rescue him from himself.”
Director Miguel Arteta spices the film with clever animation (best used in the psychedelic montage of a sex manual) and unexpected plot twist that provide a fresh twist on the well-trodden ground of the horny-boy-goes-on-adventure-to-get-sexed story.
As for Cera, his Twisp is a similar but slightly more confident version of his previous incarnations on the big screen, imbued here with a sense of righteousness not seen in his other work. But his snide, contemptuous, cigarette-smoking Francois is a side of the actor we have not seen. Cera’s deadpan delivery of the imagine Frenchman’s acid lines makes one hope that maybe the young star will eventually end up in a Neil LaBute or Todd Solondz film.
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