Michael Cera has gone to some pretty elaborate lengths to get the girl in past films such as Juno, Superbad and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, but Youth In Revolt takes the cake.
Not only does his character, Nick Twisp, create a cigarette-smoking, mustache-sporting alter ego named Francois Dillinger, but the normally timid 16-year-old ends up lying, cheating, stealing and dabbling in a bit of arson, all for the girl of his dreams.
Directed by Miguel Arteta, Youth In Revolt follows Nick, a lonely, virginal high schooler who, contrary to most 16- year-olds, enjoys Frank Sinatra records and Fellini films more than Kid Cudi and the latest Vin Diesel flick. During a brief stint living in a trailer park with his mother (Jean Smart) and her white trash boyfriend Jerry (Zach Galifianakis), Nick meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), a quirky and intelligent girl who loves all things French and, like Nick, wishes to escape her tawdry little life.
But when the two are suddenly separated as Nick's parents leave the trailer park to move back to their hometown, Nick decides he will do anything to return to her. This includes acting so terribly that his mother will kick him out of the house so that Nick can move back to the town where Sheeni lives. He begins to talk back to his mother, start arguments, disobey and the kicker: set her car on fire, blowing up both it and a store it rolls into. After that stunt, his mother is fuming and sends him to live with his father (Steve Buscemi), where he returns to Sheeni's arms once more ... or so he thinks.
From there, the warm and heartfelt story unravels, and Cera does an excellent job at speaking laughably deadpan sentences dripping with sarcasm, disdain and uncomfortable seriousness.
I'm going to wrap your legs around my head and wear you like the crown that you are
is one giggly example of Francois Dillinger seduction. The film also incorporates some interesting use of animation and claymation to express certain scenes and act out certain thoughts, dirty and otherwise.
But as a whole, the film was a bit too saccharine with a lot of lofty thinking, taking the plot unrealistically far as Nick tries to win Sheeni. The film's plotline is also a bit shaky; at first it seems to be concentrating on Nick attempting to lose his virginity, but throughout the film this becomes muddled with falling in love, and by the end it really isn't clear which one he wanted more or which one he was really looking for.
Either way, Cera knows what he is doing and has the act of awkwardly geeky yet smart, clever high school student down pat. If you are a big Michael Cera fan, this film will be a welcome addition to your collection.
- Kelly Kettering is a senior studying journalism. If you would like to attempt to seduce her with your own sexy alter ego, feel free to e-mail her at kk150206@ohiou.edu.
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Culture
Kelly Kettering
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