“Youth in Revolt” gives Cera the twee name Nick Twisp, surrounds his aging virgin act with divorced parents who are both shacked up with lustful vulgarians and then provides him with a dream come true in the person of Sheeni Saunders.
She’s played by Portia Doubleday, a new actress whose name will always be more melodious than those of her characters. They meet during family vacations at Restless Axles trailer park. For Sheeni, virginity is a once-touching affectation, and Nick Twisp is oh, so eager to join her in this opinion. But there are many obstacles to their bliss, worst of all his family’s tragic return home.
His mother, Estelle (Jean Smart), lives with Jerry (Zach Galifianakis), a beer-swilling, belching lout who makes Nick’s skin crawl. His father, George Twisp (Steve Buscemi), recently laid off, has robbed the cradle for his live-in, Lacey (Ari Graynor). Both parents all but flaunt their lovers before poor Nick; at Restless Axles, his mom asks Nick to clean up after dinner while she and Jerry (after his post-prandial burp) retire to the bedroom a few feet away for noisy rumpy-pumpy.
Nick is desperate to be reunited with Sheeni, tries to float reasons he needs to take a trip right way and really inadvertently (honest) sets in motion an explosive, fiery chain of events.
Cera’s style lends itself to one note, and the movie wisely gives him another character to play, an imaginary alter ego named Francois Dillinger, inspired by Jean-Paul Belmondo. In this role, he has a mustache and smokes, but true to character, his mustache is wispy and he always smokes like it’s his first cigarette.
One of the secrets of “Youth in Revolt” is that Nick seems bewildered by his own desires and strategies. He knows how he feels, he knows what he wants, but he’d need a map to get from A to B.
It’s Nick’s self-abashing modesty that makes the movie work. Here, you feel, is a movie character who would find more peace on the radio.
“YOUTH IN REVOLT.”
R for sexual content, language and drug use. 1 hour, 30 minutes. Directed by Miguel Arteta; written by Gustin Nash, based on the novel by C.D. Payne; starring Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Zach Galifianakis, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Jean Smart and Fred Willard. Opens today at area theaters.
