Youth in Revolt: Teenage angst that’s not so revolting.
Movie Reviews January 12th. 2010, 10:38pmI had low expectations about this film and was very pleasantly surprised by the wit and humor. The offbeat characters and basically cameo performances by the likes of Jean Smart, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Fred Willard, Justin Long (I’m a Mac), etc. play off our sad hero Michael Cera wonderfully. It’s almost like a very disturbed Alice in Wonderland with all the bizarre characters. Cera plays dual roles as the dweeb and his alter ego Francois, the bad boy he thinks he wants to be. Portia Doubleday is his love interest and is adorable in a teenage psychotic way. What lengths he goes to to win her heart is the basis of the movie and it is sweet and funny and cynical and schizoid like most of us will admit our teen years were.I thought the film was well made and innovative in the use of animation at interesting points. The soundtrack is excellent and you may or may know the songs, but you think you do. This isn’t a Porky’s at all. It’s a smart inventive comedy that I enjoyed more than I thought I would.