Youth in Revolt (Saturday, January 9, 2010) (2)

At some point in the future, Michael Cera will be too old to play a high school kid. Until that time he will be in 36 movies a year playing the same nerdy high school kid. Always very smart, always geeky, always looking for the hot girl who won't give him the time of day, always lovable and funny to us, but invisible to the rest of the world. (The corollary to this point is that some day in the future there will be a comedy that does not have Zach Galifianakis in it playing a fool... someday.)

But until then, Youth in Revolt is the most recent chapter in what feels like a never-ending string of films. In this one, Cera plays Nick Twisp, whose mother and her loser boyfriend (Galifianakis) take him to a trailer park in rural California for vacation. He is a bookish lad who loves nothing more than Frank Sinatra and Sinatra vinyl records. At the camp, he meets a hot, smart girl, Sheeni (Portia Doubleday... boy! That's a show-business name!), who is equally strange and bookish, but much more sexually advanced than he is. He sets out to impress her and win her heart.

She falls for him, but says that he has to be a bad boy to keep her interested. To do this, Nick invents an alter ego, Francois Dillinger, who is a bad-ass with a silly moustache, tight white slacks and a devil-may-care attitude. Francois and Nick (as a pair) get into more and more silly trouble to keep Sheeni interested and wanting more.

As is typical of a silly comedy like this, the first act is pretty strong and funny, the second act is rather dull and wasted and the second-half of the third act is funny, leaving a big directionless hole in the middle. This trap is so easy to fall into that it is hard to particularly blame director Miguel Areta or screenwriter Gustin Nash, though it's totally their fault. It's only a lonely few gross-out comedies that can do better than a half of a funny movie.

The script is based on novel by C.D. Payne, so perhaps some of the issues of the narrative should be laid at his feet too. I think the biggest problem with the film is that the Francois Dillinger character is not used more. This is perhaps Michael Cera's funniest, screw-ballest character ever - the role is really hilarious. Sadly it is only used for about four or five sequences. Much of the hijinks that Cera gets into is done as Nick Twisp and not Dillinger. This is a big waste, I think. The core of the story is fine - that a dork has to be a bad-ass to get the cute girl - but then the film should have been about this reckless, edgy alter-ego fighting with his angelic, safe id.

Doubleday is totally cute, in a girl-next-door kinda way - not a va-va-va-voom, Megan Fox way. She's funny in this role and not annoying like Ellen Page in Juno. I don't know if she has chops to do much else, but I look forward to seeing her try.

This is a small, silly movie that is definitely a must-see, but is enjoyable enough for a shot. It's worth seeing just to get a glimpse of Michael Cera with bad facial hair. I'm not sure he is actually shaving yet - but it is a look he should never try without irony.

Stars: 2.5 of 4