"You need to be bad, Nicky."
Not sure where to begin with this movie, honestly. Youth in Revolt struck a personal chord with me for numerous reasons, and painfully enough, I saw a good bit of myself and our main character. When I first started watching, I noted the love of obscure foreign Cinema from our protagonist and his love interest as well. I was thinking to myself nobody young loves those kinds of movies, and people like that are a rare breed indeed. Then it donned on me that I am such an individual, and I am a rare breed, because I absolutely adore that kind of cinema. I love how it revolved around the aspect of creating a dual personality for ourselves. It’s something that I feel almost everybody does, whether they admit it or not. I honestly believe everybody has that version of themselves that they see, and hope they can be, that is more confidence and ambitious in every day life. When things go wrong or uneasy for our man, Nick Twisp, he decides to titularly "Revolt" by crafting a persona the girl of his dreams cannot resist, Francois Dillinger. Like Jekyll and Hyde, Francois appears periodically throughout the film to offer advice and, more suitably, take control of the situation by blatanlty defying authority or bringing his alpha male, bad-assery into play. One of the biggest examples I can think of in other movies is FIGHT CLUB. There’s a line that our protagonist speaks reflecting around the idea that the good guys never get the girl, but the bad guys sure do. It’s a bit of a cliché point, but maybe one that is all too true as well. Aside from the philosophical conundrum the story presents there’s a lot more to love including the writing, and the cast performances. I laughed out loud during this movie so much it was ridiculous. Additionally, I do think this is one of the better movies I’ve seen on my binge. This movie might even make my top 10 list of favorites. This was easily my favorite Michael Cera performance/movie that I’ve ever seen. You cannot go wrong cast in the likes of Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, and Zach Galifianakis as well. Justin long was fine but I’ve never been a huge fan of his. I have to give special mention to Portia doubleday, and actress whose work I’ve never seen before, but she was so damn captivating I had to stop the movie in the middle, just to look her up, and see who she was. I think I might be a fan now. I almost forgot, I have to mention the Rooney Mara as well who delivers on a smaller role in this film, probably because her*wasn’t quite on the rise just yet. She is easily one of my favorite actresses working today, and it was a lot of fun to see her in this movie in a smaller role. Youth in revolt is an insightful, brutally honest, and captivating film that captures just a fraction of what it means to be young today. It comes recommended for fans of any of the cast, coming-of-age movies, and comedies in general. It is not a Ricky Nixx film.
Year: 2009
Director: Miguel Arteta
Writers: Gustin Nash (screenplay), C.D. Payne (novel)
Stars: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Ray Liotta