Francophilia, Jr: Youth In Revolt

Is Michael Cera a real boy? I'm beginning to wonder if he's not unlike that little girl vampire from Interview With A Vampire - cursed to remain a child for all time. I just got back from seeing Youth In Revolt and although he must be around my age, he still looks like someone getting their first sex ed class.

As for the movie itself, it's surprisingly endearing, in spite of Cera's uncanny presence. He plays poor Nick Twisp, who wants to get laid, preferably to the blonde intellectual wannabe who lives down the trailer park lane. It's the same plot you've seen in every teen sex comedy, but since this hero fancies himself a "voracious reader" the dialogue has an off kilter charm. It's what comes from teenagers who know how to define words but not how to use them.

I don't think I would be spoiling much to say he succeeds, cherries are popped and so on. Of course it's because he's manned up, or homme-d it so to speak, after creating a quasi-French thug persona who lets him express his violent side. I suppose on some level it's not the most positive message to send to people, that the only way to get the girl in bed is to be a douchebag outside it. Among other things, he burns down part of a town and slips sleeping pills in his crush's drink.

It might also be painfully nostalgic for some of you. When you're in high school, particularly a generic public school, it doesn't take much to feel like you have superior taste. If you've sat through a Fellini movie and own a record player, that's enough. For example, the crush du jour for the brainy chicks at my school established his cred just by putting up a photo of Chet Baker in his locker. Also: wearing a felt hat. And then once you find someone who shares those interests, mistaking that compatibility for true love is even easier. This movie gets that level of taste just right and it can be a little awkward when high school still feels like it was just a few minutes ago.