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Movie Review: Youth in Revolt


A mildly charming Michael Cera comedy. I like him in some movies, and not so much in others. He was decent in this, mostly because he has an alter ego, Francois, who should have been in it more.

Basic plot: Nick Twisp falls in love with some girl while his family (his mom and his mom's latest boyfriend) are staying in some trailer thingy located...somewhere. She has a boyfriend, of course, and Nick desperately wants to win her over + lose his virginity. He creates a fake alter ego, a French sociopath named Francois, to help him, and they do some crazy stuff along the way.

There is a good cast here, although I didn't care for the girl who played Nick's love interest, although that has more to do with the character than the actress. She was bland and self-involved, a typical romantic interest in a "coming of age" film. That's how she was supposed to be played, sure, and since Nick is simply a horny teenager, I get the feeling he would have "fallen in love" with almost any half-decent girl, but by the end of the movie, I felt like the whole goal of the film was for Nick to lose his virginity, which is such a shallow, predictable, unoriginal plot point. How many movies featuring teenage protagonists have to do with the characters aiming towards losing their virginity or losing it on a whim (like in Driving Lessons)? It's so overused. I wish that filmmakers would stop associating "teenagers" and "coming of age" with "must lose virginity". As if that's all life and being young are about.

As I said, good cast. Justin Long plays Sheeni's brother, and he should have been in this more. He had a funny character with comedic potential. Steve Buscemi plays Nick's father. I like him. :) Jean Smart and Zach Galifianakis are also in this.

It did pull some laughs, and I enjoyed it to a point, but it wasn't a great feat in comedy.

My grade: B-

Comments

  1. This movies was giving passage for adults. Because now there are several of reasons that adults or teen lost their virginity. I like the most story of this movies which was really charming.
    Growing Lights

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