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YOUTH IN REVOLT

 

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Director: Miguel Arteta
Cast: Michael Cera, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi
RunTime: 1 hr 30 mins
Released By: Golden Village
Rating: M18
(Sexual Scenes & Sexual References)
Official Website: http://www.weinsteinco.com/#/film/youth_in_revolt

Opening Day: 15 April 2010

Synopsis:

Youth In Revolt is the outrageous and heartwarming tale of Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) and his quest to win the heart of Sheeni (newcomer Portia Doubleday) and hopefully lose his virginity along the way. Based on C.D. Payne's cult-hit novel of the same name, "Youth In Revolt".

Movie Review:

Juno, Superbad, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – if there’s one common contention about these movies, it’s that Michael Cera seems like he is playing the same characters in all of them. In the movies that have been mentioned, he played nerds or geeks all of whom were “not one of the cool ones” but somehow ended up being adorable ones who got the girl at the end of the day. To put it simply, he plays yet another similar role in Youth in Revolt, well, at least until Francois Dillinger appears.

In Youth in Revolt, he plays Nick Twisp, a teenage boy who is taken on a “holiday” by his mother and her boyfriend (a Zach Galifianiakis cameo here) to a trailer park where he meets Sheeni Saunders (newcomer Portia Doubleday) and falls in love with her. Believing that she is more than just a spring fling, he hopes that she will be the one who will eventually take away his virginity. He soon returns home but decides to conjure a braver and cooler alter ego in the form of Francois Dillinger. As a result, Francois helps him to come up with ways to get him to reunite with Sheeni, which obviously gets him involved in pretty interesting predicaments.

The comedy in this movie is a hoot especially scenes which involve both Nick and Twisp. The usually uptight and nervous Nick has to content with the daring nature of Francois who makes him do things he would not normally do. In this instance, a scene which involves a car, petroleum, a building and a whole of fire comes to mind. Also, Michael Cera has good comic timing. He is able to deliver zingers with doses of deadpan. However, while he shows some signs of potential here, he needs to break away from being typecast (Year One anyone?) and play various characters. Let’s hope Scott Pilgrim Versus the World will be an improvement for him.

Although indie director, Miguel Arteta manages to get the comedy pat down, the structure of the movie feels like it is just a brief run through of a boy’s teenage years. Sure, the dialogue will draw much laughter and scenes which push certain boundaries but there is an essence that is truly missing from the movie. There is a lot of potential for certain relationships to develop and arcs to explore. Most characters feel significantly underdeveloped, fitting into the story just to carry it along. As a result, the fantastic line up of supporting cast members like Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta and Justin Long do what they can do in whatever limited space they were given to play with.

Youth in Revolt is one of those coming-of-age movies but this one has a slight edge to it. A watchable movie to laugh about, this is a fun adventure but it all ends far too quickly and not likely to allow you to reminisce on your own growing up days.

Movie Rating:



(An enjoyable coming-of-age movie!)

Review by Mohamad Shaifulbahri

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

. Whip It (2009)

. Paper Heart (2009)

. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)


. Juno (2007)


. Superbad (2006)

 


 
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