Youth In Revolt ( 2010 )

Starring: Micheal Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Zach Galifianakis, & Steve Buscemi

Directed by Miguel Arteta


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403702/

The rap on Michael Cera is that, however charming and watchable he is, he is always playing Michael Cera.  Aside from noting that the same thing was said about, oh, John Wayne and George Clooney, it’s also worth declaring that his new film, “Youth in Revolt,” gives the young actor a chance to prove that criticism right and wrong.

In Miguel Arteta’s adaptation of C. D. Payne’s novel, Cera plays Nick Twisp, one of his patented neurotic niceboys but one whose romance with the elusive Sheeni Saunders (the improbably but gorgeously named Portia Doubleday) leads him to create a new persona, the wicked Francois Dillinger, whom Cera also portrays.

Within his rebellious guise, wimpy Nick can lash out at his divorced parents (Jean Smart and Steve Buscemi), mom’s boyfriends (Zach Galifianakis and Ray Liotta) and the leaden weight of an equally nebbishy best friend, Sheeni’s uptight parents, and all the moral certainties with which he was raised.  And in so doing he has a blast -- literally.

Cera plays both parts well enough to make you see that the usual thing he does is just that -- a thing he does (I believe it’s called ‘acting’).  And Arteta (“Chuck & Buck,” “The Good Girl”) is completely at home with this kind of DIY-scale production.  It’s not earth-shaking, but it’s diverting and polished.


Overall Review ( * * * )

Mr. What?