Miguel Arteta has a damn fine batting average. Mixed in with some impressive TV credits (most notably Six Feet Under), the director is responsible for helming two fine independent projects; the first, cult item Chuck and Buck (2000), in the second, the should be better known dark drama, The Good Girl (2002), he extracted perhaps the only truly decent screen performance attributable to Jennifer Aniston.
The most recent Arteta project to reach these shores and only via DVD after inexplicably bypassing cinemas is black comedy, Youth in Revolt, a film which showcases two sides of Michael Cera sometimes simultaneously! As the wryly named Nick Twisp, Cera and his recognisable screen persona fit the bill Nick is 16 and a bit of a geek, living in a less than luxurious abode with his slutty mother Estelle (Jean Smart), whose latest boyfriend, Jerry (Zack Galifianakis), is just another in a long line of losers.
In short, Nick’s life is going nowhere fast. A philosophical virgin, he dreams of an adventure which might actually enable contact with a member of the opposite sex who doesn’t think he’s a complete square. A hastily arranged holiday to a trashy trailer park seems devoid of possibilities but here a strange, intriguing creature will enter Nick’s orbit. Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) is a bit of an oddball herself and in a strange twist, not immediately repelled by Nick’s presence.
Just as a chemical reaction is taking place and their union solidified, Nick is whisked back to suburbia. To his mother he suggests a hasty relocation to the home of deadbeat dad (Steve Buscemi) who’s shacked up with his latest much younger girlfriend not far from the trailer park. He’s stiffly denied however, so to worm his way back to Sheeni, Nick is implored to channel a darker side, an untapped inner self, one inflected with Gallic grace and a nasty streak perhaps? As if rising from the ashes of a Godardian drama, Francois Dillinger, an anti-hero with a dangerous edge, is born.
A fully formed projection of Nick’s more decisive masculine side, Francois advises discreet destruction as a legitimate means of forging a path back to Sheeni. But taking Francois’s advice under advisement leads to unlawful acts that create calamitous complications, putting the potential lovers’ relationship in jeopardy.
Though perhaps wavering in tone at times, Youth in Revolt is nevertheless a dark delight, brimming with dark, satirical jibes and goofball humour. A notable feature of Gustin Nash’s screenplay, based on the first of a series of novels by C.D. Payne, is the space it allows for a compendium of marginal roles to be fleshed out, giving absurdist credence to this left of centre world.
A slew of name actors intermittently enter the fray to take their slice of the limelight whilst perfectly complimenting Cera’s droll heroics as Nick and his never overused alter-ego Dillinger. Amongst them are Ray Liotta as a cop who sniffs around Nick’s mum before moving in with her, Fred Willard as an amiably eccentric neighbour, M.Emmett Walsh as Sheeni’s overly strict religious father and Justin Long as her slacker brother.
Endearingly silly in its love of random humour and romantic oddity, Youth in Revolt (2010) will not be to all tastes. But for those looking for an antidote to the merry go round of Hollywood ‘Event’ films or not yet inured to indie cinema’s persistent, slightly one dimensional projection of Cera, this is a sweet surprise lying in wait for belated discovery.
I say:
A severely undervalued black comedy that defies the relative anonymity of its reputation.
See it for:
Cera’s typically deadpan turn and the subtle variations of his alter-ego. The colourful secondary players all provide a solid laugh or two as well.
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