[Youth in Revolt]
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I snagged a pass to Youth In Revolt after hearing a rumor that Michael Cera actually bothers to act in it. I am more than a little appalled that it was my first movie of 2010.
Cera basically blew all the affection I had for him from “Arrested Development” and Superbad by hitting me with the one-two suckerpunch that was the god-awful adaptation of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist & the dull, self-indulgent mockumentary Paper Heart.
I haven’t read Youth in Revolt, so I can’t speak to it as an adaptation, but the film certainly felt like a YA novel, hormonal and hyper-real. If I were still in a position to do reader’s advisory, I’d hand it to someone who liked Rats Saw God.
Does it work? Sure. I particularly liked the animated sequences (very Better Off Dead). Does Cera act? Yes. Nick Twisp is definitely in the Cera mold, but his alter-ego, Francois, is great smarmy fun. (Though not as much fun as Justin Long as The Love Interest’s older brother, who was probably the best part of the movie.) And you gotta respect a film that has the guts to be an R rated teen movie.
All that said… eh. It took me this long to bother to post about it, holding up four many other films. Clearly I’m not excited.
This cracked me up. “I snagged a pass to Youth In Revolt after hearing a rumor that Michael Cera actually bothers to act in it.”