For Reel

Youth in Revolt

Director: Miguel Arteta

If the release of “Youth in Revolt” feels a year or two too late, it is: when it was filmed, the Michael Cera backlash had yet to begin. Now, finally finding it’s wide release in the movie abyss that is January, the film, to no one’s surprise, has underperformed. It’s not quite what one might expect, however – although a bit of a tonal mess, it’s refreshingly quiet, paced much more methodically than it’s teen raunch counterparts. And, to the collective groans of bored teenagers everywhere, it’s Cera, admittedly only a mild variation from his characters in “Superbad” and “Juno”, who brings the material to life. Let me proudly pronounce my position on the Michael Cera backlash backlash bandwagon – because of his unfortunate typecasting, people are really beginning to forget just how good he is at what he does.

Based on a popular series of novels by C.D. Payne, “Youth in Revolt” tells the story of a virginal teenager, Nick Twisp (Michael Cera). He lives with his neglectful mother (Jean Smart) and her lazy boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis), while his father (Steve Buscemi) gallivants with his much younger girlfriend (Ari Graynor). When the family, intending to evade threatening sailors, vacations to a trailer park, Nick finally meets the girl he’s been searching for: Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday).

Earlier in the film, Nick had a run-in with a cute, preppy classmate at a video rental store (that place you used to go to before NetFlix). When he had mentioned that he was renting Fellini’s “La Strada”, she laughed, commenting “how random!”. Sheeni, on the other hand, knows her Yasujiro Ozu, and she has a shrine to Jean-Paul Belmondo on her bedroom wall. Fellow film geeks: don’t be fooled, Sheeni Saunders does not exist.

And that’s perhaps “Youth in Revolt”‘s biggest error – the conceit that is Sheeni Saunders is too hard to invest in. In fact, only Nick, although prototypical, seems to resemble an actual person. We’re given a chance to sympathize with his plights through his deplorable surroundings, but such exaggerations only further remove us from investing in Nick’s world. Compare Sheeni Saunders, an otherworldly goddess, to Kat Dennings from “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”, for example – she was smart and beautiful, but accessible. “Youth in Revolt” feels like a fantasy, and if that’s the intent, director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Gustin Nash should’ve given the film a much sharper edge. More perversity, more disaster, more rebellion.

I would be remiss to not mention Francois Dillinger, Nick’s alter-ego devised to win over the heart of Sheeni. The character is fortunately used conservatively, appearing mostly in short, violent bursts, leaving the real Nick to deal with the consequences of his alternate persona’s actions. Francois may be far from Ferris Bueller, but Cera does have some fun with the deep-blue contacts and pencil-thin mustache. “Youth in Revolt” may not rid Cera of his dorky, passive-aggressive image, but it further establishes his mastery of that certain self-serious comedic timing that he’s made his name off of.

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