Youth in Revolt: One-Note-Cera Strikes Again
Doe-eyed Michael Cera had the chance to show that he has some acting range with the new teen sex comedy Youth in Revolt, but he falls pretty flat. In the film, he plays Nick Twisp, the same role we have always seen him in: an awkward virgin who lives in a perpetual state of sexless misery. He speaks in the same tired, hyper-literary tongue used in Juno and Nick and Nora. In fact, all of the youth in the film speak like that and it’s only the adults who speak like normal human beings. Cera also plays the wolf in sheep’s clothing Francois Dillinger, Nick’s “bad boy” alter-ego. He’s bad because he smokes cigarettes and uses more colorful language. But Francois is just as stiff as Nick. It would have been nice to see Cera get to have fun with the Francois character, but the writing relies almost entirely on the irony of him in the bad boy role.
The film, based on the Youth in Revolt books series by C.D. Payne, was directed by Miguel Arteta who should be given credit for toning down the antics that usually drive the humor in teen sex romps. There are some genuinely funny moments (most of them featuring Zach Galifianakis), but getting over the annoying dialogue was impossible for me. I wanted to smack everyone in their smart mouth. It’s not entirely the lines themselves, it’s how they’re delivered. It always sounds so phony.
Don’t pay money to see this turd. Find it online instead and only if you’re really bored and waiting for your next Netflix to come in.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:34 am
Down with Cera, up with Eisenberg!
January 11th, 2010 at 5:34 am
I second that.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I’ll have to disagree. I found this movie to be hilarious.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Yeah, Eisenberg’s way better. For example, if Cera had starred in Zombieland, his go-to self-conscious schtick woulda drained all the fun out of the movie, whereas Eisenberg was likable and engaging. Oh well. I liked the novel as a young junior high-schooler… too bad the movie seems beyond redemption.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
The only reason I dislike Eisenberg less is because he’s been shoved in my face less. Fuck the two of ‘em.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
I realized today how much Cera looks like Jeff from Cockney Rejects. Points for that, I suppose.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
this movie was funny yes, but i agree the language seemed so fake. especially from the blonde chick…why did they have to talk like that? its not normal. and thats the only way michael cera knows how to be funny.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Wait, Michael Cera stars as a one-note awkward actor in a movie featuring implausible dialogue? Snoretrain. I’m tired of him and Eisenberg, but any dude in Zombieland gets the edge.
January 11th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I am most interested in David Permut’s marketing strategy of paying L.A. vagrants to wave one sheets at motorists. Is this bum-driven formula driving people into theaters or what?
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/why-david-permut-is-a-marketing-genius/
Also: I have been telling people that Michael Cera looks like Jeff from Cockney Rejects for years! When will Michael Cera finally come forward and admit that he is just ripping off Jeff?
January 11th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Spent the entire movie thinking there would be some great denouement of the girl but in the end it sucked a fat one.
“I’m going to call him Albert, for Albert Camus”
Really? Fuck that shit.
Movie had promise for first 2/3, but then shits the bed. What was the point of the animated shit ?
January 12th, 2010 at 9:57 am
They namedropped Albert Camus? This whole namedropping thing is getting out of hand. It was bad in Juno, then worse in 500 Days of Summer.