Youth in Revolt (2009)

Simply Perfect

People are voting emotionally.

A Disappointing Continuation

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Maybe it's because Nick Twisp reminds me a little of myself... Michael Cera plays another awkward role (which he always does well) as a teenager who struggles without seeing his true love. Youth In Revolt is smart, sophisticated and charming reminding me of similar movies such as Adventureland and Easy A. It's not a laugh out loud comedy but it does deliver a warming,relatable character in the split personality of Nick Twisp. Even when he's causing trouble, you feel like rooting for Cera. When he's not,you almost feel the frustration his character is going through. I Recommend this movie to anyone who wants a good comedy to watch.

Pheew! What a joy it is to see Michael Cera playing a role so different to his usual role, granted he does okay that role in this film but he also plays the wonderful Francois, the alter ego of Nick Twisp, the alter ego that turns Nick into the rebel that will help him bag the girl. Youth In Revolt has it all, humor of all types, lots of raunch, a great script, and a terrific cast that are all totally suited to their roles.This movie is based on a series of young adult novels, however to me this movie was very adult and probably aimed more at an older crowd, the sex talk and raunchy jokes are hilarious and I think you have to have some life experience to fully understand the film. Michael Cera is so great, yes he is very very very typecast but he finally does something different and it really suits him, he should look out for more roles like this in the future. The supporting cast are divine, I particularly loved Jean Smart as Nick's mother, she is very reminiscent if Kim Cattrall in this role, but she's always really good, Portia Doubleday is good in a breakout role but her character comes so close to being hatable, I kind of just wanted Nick/Francois to forget about Sheeni and go pursue an equally rebellious gal.Comedy fans rejoice, this movie is original, hilarious and extremely entertaining, fingers crossed for a sequel and fast. :) hooray for Nick Twisp!

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this film, laughed throughout in fact, but as a whole I have to be critical. Including in comparison to other films similar to its nature and when it comes to films involving teens and sex, there are many to choose from. It's been a done a million times, so it's nice to see refreshing and moderately realistic scenario and character interaction, like that of "Superbad" or "Juno". The cast, for one thing is damn amazing. There are many excellent actors, like Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta, both did wonderfully. Zack Galifianakis and Justin Long were very well into their characters and I loved them on screen. A lot of the characters are pretty memorable, an aspect I enjoyed. I enjoyed seeing the character interaction which is the key to film-making at the base of it all. But Michael Cera as the awkward-nobody is beyond overdone. Sorry, but at this point I've seen too many times. Only when he's donning the Francois persona do I admire his performance and really embrace him as a character.Not to mention the whole plot at a glance makes his character seem rather pathetic really. He steals cars, travels hundreds of miles, sabotages the girl's education, among many other ridiculous things all for one girl who half the time doesn't really seem to care about him that much. It's a love story I just can't connect with despite my attempts to. So check this one out for some crude laughs but not a masterpiece by any means.C+

I was in two minds about watching this one but I had heard a couple of good things about it so I took the plunge. There were some good things about it but there was also a lot that I found very average. More of my thoughts later, here's a brief summary first (summary haters please invent an alter-ego for yourselves while I write the next paragraph).Nick Twisp lives with his mother, Estelle, and her current boyfriend, Jerry. For reasons I won't go into now, they find themselves having to go and stay in a trailer park for a few weeks. Nick is into things like Sinatra LP's and Fellini films, you know, he's not your mainstream kind of guy. Of course this makes it very hard for him to meet girls, and being a teenager; of course he likes girls… a lot! Anyway, whilst there he meets Sheeni Saunders who has a lot of the same interests as he does. They begin to get to know each other but eventually Nick has to leave. Determined to see her again, he invents an alter-ego for himself, a suave sophisticated character called Francois Dillinger. He can say and do all the things that Nick can't and this allows him to, not only, get his father, George, to move nearer to Sheeni, but also get his mother, and new boyfriend Lance Wescott, to send him to live with his father. This is only the start of the trouble for Nick, you see, he had to commit a crime in order to live with his father and now the cops are after him! From here on it gets a little complicated, so I won't say any more.First of all, what I liked; I liked the use of slow motion at the beginning of the film and the little animated segments. These were good. Also good were the scenes that included the 'Francois Dillinger' character, that was also good… And that about wraps up the good parts. Unfortunately Michael Cera can only play Michael Cera so many times before you ask yourself, is there anything else he can do? Well, he can play Francois Dillinger who I found much more interesting than Michael Cera, sorry, Nick Twisp. I guess I should give honourable mentions to other members of the cast… It's not all about Cera after all… So, honourable mentions go to; Portia Doubleday as Sheeni Saunders, Jean Smart as Estelle Twisp, Zach Galifianakis (I still don't think he's funny) as Jerry, Adhir Kalyan as Vijay Joshi, Steve Buscemi as George Twisp, Fred Willard as Mr. Ferguson and Ray Liotta as Lance Wescott.So, I've mentioned the good things and I've talked about Michael Cera playing Michael Cera one time too many for me. I guess the rest of it I found a little predictable and, for a comedy, not very funny. There was only one 'laugh out loud' moment for me in the entire film. So, over all, no great comedy, but bearable enough with the scenes featuring 'Francois Dillinger' being a highlight. Worth seeing for that alone, but don't put too a high priority on it.My score: 6.4/10