Youth in Revolt

Sixteen-year-oldNick Twisp (Michael Cera) is an aspiring novelist of decidedly mid-20th centurytastes. Fellini and Sinatra are his heroes, not Tarantino or Eminem. He’s ananalog kid in a digital world. He’s also painfully shy and awkwardly out ofplace, stigmatized as a virgin in a culture without innocence or romance.

As theprotagonist of the coming of age comedy Youth in Revolt, Nick finds the girl ofhis dreams while on vacation, the smart but elusive Sheeni (newcomer PortiaDoubleday). She also likes Fellini and Sinatra (on vinyl), but has even greateraffection for Godard, Gainsbourg and all things mid-century French. After apleasant date on the beach, Sheeni announces, with regret, that she has aboyfriend, a pretentious pseudo-Francophile whose bad poetry she recites. Andyet, she turns to Nick and demands, “Kiss me, you weenie.”

Girls can be soconfusing! Sheeni, Nick’s love at first sight, holds out the tantalizing appleof hope. If he can move nearby, she might become more than a passing summerfling. But to do so, he must be kicked out of his slatternly mother’s house.Diffident Nick needs to be bad. Very bad.

Smutty butfunny, sexual without being sexy, Youth in Revolt is also a scathing satire ofBaby Boomers from the perspective of their teenage children. Based on C.D.Payne’s novel, Youth in Revolt strongly implies that everyone over 40 isridiculous. Nick’s own parents are a couple of losersmom dates a succession ofblue collar blowhards while dad is shacked up with a floozy half his age.Sheeni’s folks are a happy couple of evangelicals who find evil everywhere.Nick’s helpful neighbor, Mr. Ferguson, is a naive bleeding heart who runs asafe house for South American refugees in his basement. Little wonder Nick andSheeni dream of escaping into the better world they found on old LPs and arthouse films.

Cera extendshis range by playing the alter ego who coaches Nick on being bad. Not unlikethe Bogart character in Woody Allen’s Play it Again, Sam, Francois appears atthose moments when the protagonist needs worldly counsel. Suave and dressed incool continental style, Francois proffers tips on how to handle women and defyauthority. He is the bold, flaming youth Nick wants to be.

Director MiguelApta (Chuck and Buck) successfully distilled Payne’s long novel, a sequence ofhalf-Quixotic adventures in a delusional world, into a snappy feature film.Beyond its humor, Youth in Revolt manages to be an empathetic account of youngpeople who are just too smart for the stupid society they are forced toinhabit.