Cast: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Steve Buscemi, Ray Liota, Justin Long

Director: Miguel Arteta

Screenwriter: Gustin Nash (screenplay), CD Payne (novel)

Based on the acclaimed comic novel by CD Payne, Youth in Revolt tells the tale of super-smart teen outcast Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) who, with the help of his super-bad chain-smoking alter ego, François Dillinger, embarks on a series of rebellious and downright criminal acts in order to lose his virginity and win the heart of his precocious crush Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday).

Nick is the son of divorced couple Estelle (Jean Smart) and George (Steve Buscemi).  Both of his parents, as well as pretty much all of the other adults in the movie, are treated with a similar disdain, Estelle shaking up with a series of low-life boyfriends and his midlife crisis-suffering father playing to stereotype by opting for a nubile 25-year-old bikini-clad girlfriend Lacey (Ari Graynor).

After his mother’s boyfriend Jerry (Zach Galifianakis) runs into a spot of trouble with a bunch of sailors who are angry that he has sold them a duff motor, Nick accompanies the pair on a hasty trip out of town to a trailer park to wait for things to cool off. It is there that Nick meets the girl of his dreams, Sheeni, who, surprisingly to Nick, reciprocates his feelings somewhat.

However, soon it is time for Nick to leave and the star-crossed pair come up with a complicated plan that will result in his dad moving to Sheeni’s hometown and Nick being thrown out of his mum’s house and sent to live with him – which given that Estelle depends on her former husband’s childcare payments to live will be no mean feat.

It is at this point where the movie becomes interesting. However watchable and endearing Cera is at playing to type as an intelligent, super-sensitive virgin, it is his alter ego François, also played by Cera, that really spices things up. Suave François has a pencil-thin moustache and wears white trousers and loafers without socks and is the complete opposite of the nerdy Nick. It is with his help that Nick gets sent to live with his father and later gets his girlfriend expelled from the French-speaking boarding school her religious parents have sent her too, and wins her affections away from her handsome, but decidedly creepy, former beau Trent (Jonathan Bradford Wright).

Youth in Revolt contains plenty of funny laugh-out-loud moments and is interesting and quirky in places, but without the appearance of François it wouldn’t have capture the attention quite as much.  The characterisation of the adults in the film, especially that of Sheeni’s pious parents, is one-dimensional and even the most sympathetic grown-up featured, Nick’s neighbour Mr Ferguson (Fred Willard), is portrayed as a laughing stock.

At the end of the film, after winning Sheeni’s heart, Nick comes to the conclusion that he is really the man she was looking for all along, not the mischievous lady-killer François. While he may be right, it’s just as well his alter ego came along for the ride and hopefully this side of Cera’s performance is indicative of things we can expect from him in the future.

By Louise Meeson

Youth In Revolt is released 5 February courtesy of Paramount Pictures