Review of Youth in Revolt (2009) by Tibor B — 06 Oct 2010

Let's face it, teen movies seem to be edging away from American Pie lewdity into hyper-articulate, pretentious sophistication. Not necessarily a good thing, as let's face it adolescence is often a mix of both. Michael Cera reprises his familiar geeky persona, as he falls for sassy dream girl Sheeni (an excellent Portia Doubleday), although the addition of a Fight Club-esque alternate bad-boy persona Francois Dillinger lets Cera cut loose a bit.

Narratively it's a picaresque series of scenes of forced teen rebellion, awkward meet-cute and horny, jealousy fuelled obsession. Arteta proves an excellent director of off-beat teen comedy, and the cast is predictably eccentric, but it is the fussy, overstuffed screenplay (condensing three volumes of a cult novel) which lets the film down and never gives any of the characters much breathing space.