Youth in Revolt – Review

What it all boils down to, for Youth in Revolt, is not if it was good, or bad, or funny or if it wasn’t, but if this could be the film that makes Michael Cera break out of his boyish, nerd, virgin, passive attitude roles. No, it matters what is the film’s quality, but its come to that. Can Michael Cera be something other than Michael Cera? It hard to knock the kid; he’s delightful and nerdy charming, yet maybe we’ve been exposed to it too much by filmmakers putting that persona into numerous scenarios. Or maybe we can only take so much of his nerdy, muttering double-speak? At least Youth in Revolt has giving him a chance, unlike the last few films.

Miguel Arteta gives the film some playful animated sequences, that doesn’t fully mesh well with everything, but it’s an interesting try, because the film’s stunt casting doesn’t really pay off. We get Hangover‘s Zach Galifianakis in a minor role as Cera’s mother’s boyfriend, Ray Liotta as a ever too eager to swoop into a grief stricken affair, Fred Willard as an activist, Justin Long as a stoner brother to Cera’s love, and really it doesn’t provide much. Now, the film is filled with little nuances in subtle dialogue exchanges or body movements, but these great actors do little because the film gives them little. With Arteta’s playful animated scenes, especially a funny mushroom tripping scene, it jolts the film a bit.

Still, even with these animated scenes, sometimes done with a lot of care in terms of the animation, it doesn’t mesh well to us the audience, even though I’m sure Nick Twisp’s world would be blander without them. So, it all comes back to Michael Cera. Yes, at first the Michael Cera signature role is still intact, yet when Francois is giving birth too, we get to see Cera have some fun. The fun is only good, because Cera I’m sure is pretty self-aware of his own persona, and at times it’s like he’s playing against it. This works, even though I don’t know if Cera has proven he can be anything else but Cera.

The humor is subtle and dry, like an alternative, intellectualized American Pie. No matter how you slice it, this film isn’t Superbad, but that’s refreshing to see the smart kids fumble around trying to get a piece of the…pie. Nerds, jocks, smart kids, and smart asses, are always trying to learn about how to get their first piece during puberty, and Youth in Revolt is a fine, subtly funny attempt at looking at the other crowd’s effort as sexual exploration.

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