Youth In Revolt Review

The main criticism against Michael Cera is that he always plays the same role: the awkward, slightly funny, sexless teenage geek. He is the Twitter generation's Hugh Grant, the Oasis of teen comedy, Jason Biggs if he was ten years younger. Or is he? Youth In Revolt is Cera's riposte, my quick-to-judge friends.

Cera plays Nick Twisp, an awkward, slightly funny, sexless teenage geek (stay with me here) whose miserable life with his single mother (Jean Smart) and her repulsive boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis) is transformed when he meets the gorgeous Sheeni (Portia Doubleday) on a family vacation. Immediately smitten, Nick tries to woo the flaxen-haired Francophile, even though she has a boyfriend who is the Ken to her Barbie. Fortunately for Nick, she reciprocates his feelings, but when he has to go back home he is distraught.

So, he does what any rational human being would and creates an evil alter ego named Francois Dillinger. This cigarette-smoking, moustachioed menace to society begins wreaking the havoc necessary to get Nick kicked out of his mother's home and moved into his father's new place near Sheeni. But when her Evangelical parents discover Nick's plan, Sheeni is sent off to boarding school and Francois is forced to appear more frequently. Will Nick unite with his true love or will Francois get him sent to jail before he has the chance?

Michael Cera shoulders a lot of responsibility in this film, and God bless his weedy little frame, he manages it with ease. Delivering hilarious lines with seasoned comic timing and revelling in the chance to go rogue with Francois, this is Cera's finest performance and should win over several naysayers. Unfortunately, the support cast aren't given the time to be anything other than 2D comic props, but the likes of Galifianikis and Fred Willard still provide hearty chuckles, while newcomer Portia Doubleday also impresses in a slightly underwritten role.

The main attraction is Cera, however, and with the release of Scott Pilgrim this summer, 2010 could be the year that he proves to Hollywood that he is more than 'that dude from Superbad'.