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Youth in Revolt

EMAILPRINTDimension Films (The Weinstein Company)

Youth in Revolt reviews
63
7.1 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Drama  |  Romance

Written by: Gustin Nash
Miguel Arteta
Michael Cera

Directed by: Miguel Arteta

Release Date:
Theatrical: January 8, 2010

Running Time: 90 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Language(s): English | French

Summary

RATING: R for sexual content, language and drug use

Starring Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Steve Buscemi, Justin Long, Ray Liotta, Jean Smart, Fred Willard, and Zach Galifianakis

Youth in Revolt is the story of Nick Twisp – a unique, but affable teen with a taste for the finer things in life like Sinatra and Fellini – who falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful, free-spirited Sheeni Saunders while on a family vacation. But family, geography and jealous ex-lovers conspire to keep these two apart. With Sheeni’s encouragement, Nick abandons his dull, predictable life and develops a rebellious alter ego: Francois. With his ascot, his moustache and his cigarette, Francois will stop at nothing to be with Sheeni, and leads Nick Twisp on a path of destruction with unpredictable and uproarious consequences. (The Weinstein Company)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Calvin Wilson

Bursting with smart dialogue, surprising situations and humor that springs from richly imagined characters.

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88

New York Post Kyle Smith

An improbable but hilarious combine of losin’-it comedies and the rarefied, Europhile air of the Cinema du Twee.

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80

Empire Andrew Male

It’s chaotic and episodic, but this is Cera’s star turn. "Superbad" meets "Fight Club?" That’ll do it.

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75

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

Cera exudes a geeky charm and tender vulnerability that's hard to resist -- probably because he's far easier to relate to for most of us than we'd like to admit.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli

A clever and often riotous burst of cynicism that pushes some pretty questionable ideas.

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75

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It’s not earth-shaking, but it’s diverting and polished.

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75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

One of the secrets of Youth in Revolt is that Nick seems bewildered by his own desires and strategies. He knows how he feels, he knows what he wants, but he'd need a map to get from A to B. It's his self-abasing modesty that makes the movie work. Here, you feel, is a movie character who would find more peace on the radio.

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75

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The slight but enjoyable Youth in Revolt finds plenty of mayhem to take advantage of Cera's against-type performance. Oh, the things we do for love.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Some tacky animated sequences notwithstanding, Youth in Revolt is smart, cool and frequently hysterical.

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70

Chicago Reader Cliff Doerksen

Mildly diverting rather than uproarious, the film still stands out among teen sex comedies for its low-key approach to antic material. The best bits are supplied by Justin Long as Doubleday's stoner brother and Adhir Kalyan as the hero's plummy-accented coconspirator.

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70

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

The collision of adolescent hormones and parental folly, hardly new cinematic territory, gets a bracing absurdist slant in Youth in Revolt.

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70

Variety Peter Debruge

Cera and his gifted comic co-stars elevate the mediocre source material into a semi-iconic coming-of-age story.

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70

Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz

It does give Cera a chance to play at being a bad boy. But it's just that - playing at it.

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70

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Youth in Revolt is basically an absurdist ramble, but a terrifically likable ramble.

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70

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Sweet and slight and often charming coming-of-age tale.

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70

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Along the way, it even gives the adorable manchild Michael Cera the chance to reinvent himself as a possible sex symbol -- in other words, it allows him to be a man.

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70

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Miguel Arteta’s rollicking Youth in Revolt is one of several recent movies to elevate the generic coming-of-age teen sex comedy to a plane of surrealism.

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67

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Arteta’s well-intentioned film version feels simultaneously overstuffed and undercooked.

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67

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

It’s an enjoyable enough exercise in teen angst triumphing.

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63

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's a bitch telling a coming-of-age story minus clichés and sappiness. So Youth in Revolt, with Michael Cera in his best performance yet, is a small miracle.

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63

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Youth in Revolt isn't bad -- the cast is too good for it to be bad.

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63

Boston Globe Ty Burr

There are some good, sharp, surprising laughs in Youth in Revolt. So why does it feel so dreadfully familiar?

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63

ReelViews James Berardinelli

From the beginning, it's apparent that there's something "off" about Youth in Revolt. It's not that the film is fatally flawed, but the tone is uneven, the satire is blunt, the comedy rarely generates more than feeble laughs, and the lead character never comes fully to life.

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63

Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore

Equal parts inspired and irresponsible, the new film from Miguel Arteta (director of the cult hit 'Chuck and Buck') turns C.D. Payne's books into a hit-or-miss homage to that French classic of outlaw love, 'Breathless.'

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63

USA Today Claudia Puig

Youth's screenplay, by Gustin Nash, is generally witty.

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60

Boxoffice Magazine Amy Nicholson

Payne's book is more epic and shameless than Gustin Nash's tidy adaptation.

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60

Time Out New York Keith Uhlich

It’s a kick to see Cera cut loose from his patented befuddled-nerd routine, even if the film’s caricatured performances and fish-in-a-barrel scorn are sure to be monotonous for some.

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60

Time Mary Pols

Uneven but occasionally quite funny.

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58

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Timing is everything. And Youth in Revolt is late -- arriving not just at the tail end of the star's sell-by date for this particular kind of character, but more importantly at the tail end of the intended audience's attention span for an inconsequential Sundance-y tale of sexual coming-of-age.

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50

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

Winded and weary from its long journey to a bigger screen, the three-books-in-one has been squeezed into a 90-minute Cliff's Notes version starring Michael Cera as Every Role Michael Cera's Ever Had.

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50

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Cera can be winning enough, with his flat-toned goofiness, in films like "Superbad," but there's only just enough of the guy to fill out one dramatis persona; two at once prove to be beyond him. [11 Jan. 2010, p.83]

50

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Just sweet enough to avoid being negligible.

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50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

In Youth in Revolt , Cera bellies up to the same table once too often. His fresh-faced act is starting to look really stale.

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50

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A movie that feels written rather than lived; from "The Catcher in the Rye" to "Rushmore," it's a story we've seen in better versions before.

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40

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

While Cera is charming enough to keep us watching, he's never allowed to cut loose -- even though that's supposed to be the whole point of the movie.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ben H. gave it a9:
Great love story gone awry story. Worth watching if you like Michael Cera. If you don't like him, you won't like this movie as the story revolves around him. My expectations were exceeded.

Tim G. gave it a5:
The movie is too busy trying to be artistic to succeed in actually being funny.

James T gave it a4:
I watched this film and it was so lame a bit like chad the reviewer who's trying to make out hes an clever johnothan ross yes we all know a few classics and who directed them but unfortunetly this is not one of them. i have watched the lead actor in other movies and feel that the actor had nothing to work with . how someone can give the film a 8 as a score putting it along side classic movies i just don't know .

Anton C. gave it an8:
First of all, this movie was great. I laughed a lot, and Cera did a good job of being Cera. However, against his other high school epic Superbad, this movie doesn't quite live up to expectations. It was good, but not amazing. If you like Cera, definitely check it out!

Bobby S. gave it a10:
Awesome movie freakin hilarious.

Nicholas F. gave it an8:
Although it was plagued by delays from the messy Weinstein Co., to me, Youth in Revolt does not feel old or outdated. Cera looks young as always, but delivers two very funny and very solid performances. His role as Francois especially is quite unexpected and wholly welcomed by me. Although I was one of the few laughing in the theaters, I was laughing the whole way through.

Ethan D. gave it a9:
Very good, kind of surprised by how good. Will be strongly recommending it.

Read more user comments >

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