Youth in Revolt [Blu-ray]

Director: Miguel Arteta Miguel Arteta

Overview

Superbad's Michael Cera discovers a vacation romance in Youth in Revolt, a teen comedy from Charlie Bartlett's screenwriter, Gustin Nash, and director Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck). The film is an adaptation of C.D. Payne's first book in a series of best-selling satirical novels starring Nick Twisp, a sexually charged 14-year-old whose intelligence and hormones get him into all sorts of adventures.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/12/2021
UPC:	0031398329893
Original Release:	2009
Rating:	R
Source:	Lions Gate
Language:	English
Sales rank:	28,228

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Cera	Nick Twisp/Francois
Portia Doubleday	Sheeni Saunders
Adhir Kalyan	Vijay Joshi
Jean Smart	Estelle Twisp
Erik Knudsen	Lefty
Zach Galifianakis	Jerry
Steve Buscemi	George Twisp
Fred Willard	Mr. Ferguson
Ari Graynor	Lacey
Ray Liotta	Lance Wescott
Justin Long	Paul Saunders
Rooney Mara	Taggarty
Jade Fusco	Bernice Lynch
Lise Lacasse	Matron,Matron
M. Emmet Walsh	Mr. Saunders
Mary Kay Place	Mrs. Saunders
Jonathan Bradford Wright	Trent,Trent
Connell Brown	Sailor #2
Randall Godwin	Officer #1,Officer #1
Tony Fanning	Officer #2
Oscar the Dog	Albert
Francine Roussel	Headmistress
Bruce Lawson	Officer A. Fanning
Sudhi Rajagopal	Officer T. Cahill
Roz Music	Store Clerk
Christa B. Allen	Teenage Girl
Trevor Duke-Moretz	Chad
Joann Fregalette Jansen	Sheeni Consultant
Arnaud Crowther	French Student #1
Danielle Nicole Czirmer	French Student #2
Michael Collins	Old Man
Greg Anderson	Sailor #1
Chuy Chávez	Illegal Immigrant #1
Miguel Arteta	Illegal Immigrant #2
Trevor Duke	Jock Guy
John Swihart	Composer

Technical Credits

Gustin Nash

Miguel Arteta	Director
Gustin Nash	Screenwriter
David Permut	Producer
Bob Weinstein	Executive Producer,Executive Producer,Producer,Producer
Nan Morales	Executive Producer,Producer
Joanna Colbert	Casting
Richard Mento	Casting
Meredith Tucker	Casting
Eddie Braun	Stunts
Joel Kramer	Stunts
Bob Marroco	Stunts
Keith Bilderbeck	Sound Effects
Rusty Ippolito	Special Effects
Ron Ayers	Sound Effects
Timothy Cargioli	Sound Effects
Paul Menichini	Sound Editor
Jonathan Gaynor	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

When you think about it, Youth in Revolt is kind of a genius move for nerdy heartthrob Michael Cera. Clearly, playing sweet, stammering, awkwardly adorable young men is this kid's bread and butter, and nobody can fault him for taking on those roles again and again. But, of course, he's not going to impress anybody by playing endless variations on George Michael from Arrested Development, so what's a boy to do? The answer is to play not one, but two roles in the 2009 comedy Youth in Revolt: the obligatory nervous-but-cute teenager Nick Twisp, and Twisp's badass invented alter ego, Francois Dillinger. Twisp comes up with this secret identity for obvious reasons -- to impress a girl: the oddly sophisticated preacher's daughter Sheeni Saunders. The white-hot Francophile seems somewhat interested in Nick, but when such obstacles as distance, a French-language boarding school, and a preexisting stud muffin/poet boyfriend stand in the way of their love, Nick creates a bad-boy persona who can do what he can't -- namely, sneak into a girls-only dorm after hours, destroy both of his parents' cars in separate incidents, and sport the kind of mustache that only an unapologetic ass-kicker can leave the house with. Nick's reliance on Francois to do his dirty work is presented Tyler Durden-style, with Nick fumbling about confusedly in the face of some hectic situation, only to have Francois step into the same shot, verbally abuse his doppelganger for being such a wussy, and resolve the fiasco through unscrupulous means -- all while maintaining a stone-cold gaze, and usually dragging on a cigarette. That all sounds kind of crazy, but the movie benefits from an extremely solid script. A story that comes to involve such madness as the protagonist setting half the town on fire and doing psychedelic mushrooms with Justin Long could easily spin into something unresolvable, but Youth in Revolt maintains just enough of a toehold on reality to keep you invested. None of that would matter, though, if it weren't for the mind-exploding effect of Cera's searing, badass performance as Mr. Francois Dillinger -- and Cera is almost frighteningly deft at playing the ultra-refined, fast-talking brute. The actor's own track record of playing humble, aw-shucks cuties would probably be enough to make his portrayal of the gritty, pseudo-Alain Delon character exceedingly novel, but placing the hard-quipping antihero literally next to one of Cera's stock roles onscreen only highlights the bizarrely awesome cognitive dissonance of the cinematic experience, adding a level of weirdness and surprise to what was already bound to be an enjoyable film.