"Youth in Revolt"
Directed by: Miguel Arteta
Starring: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Steve Buscemi, Zach Galifianakis, Ray Liotta
Rated: R
Many a film has been made based on a popular (or even obscure) novel. They are always a good starting point for a screenplay. The characters and story are already in place and a good screenwriter can hammer a screenplay into shape.
But some novels are daunting in their scope. "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole won a Pulitzer and has a devout following but has never been translated to film. My personal favorite book, "Catch-22," was realized by director Mike Nichols as a good, interesting, film, but the screenplay left out a huge amount of the detail of Joseph Heller's novel.
Peter Jackson took on the classic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and ... well ... you know how that turned out. I'm still more interested in seeing someone do a film of "The Hobbit," hopefully with a lot less "walking around" screen time than in the Jackson films.
And now comes director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Gustin Nash taking on "Youth in Revolt."
C.D. Payne's 1993 work is actually a collection of three novels, bound in one cover. It's a 500-page epic and one I have not read. In doing research for this review I've gotten the sense that the people likely to find fault with Arteta's film are those who have read - and are die-hard fans of - Payne's novel.
"Youth in Revolt" is not a typical teen "coming of age" film. It's much darker, the humor is more cynical and the sexual innuendo more pronounced. There's a reason the film is rated R.
The story concerns a 16-year-old kid (upped from 14 in the book) named Nick Twisp. In many ways, Nick is a typical American teen. He's somewhat alienated, has weird parents, is angst-ridden and - most of all - sexually frustrated. The latter point is the crux of his personality, his driving force.
Then again, he's also somewhat out of the norm. He watches foreign films and listens to Frank Sinatra.
Michael Cera has played similar characters before, in "Superbad" and "Juno," and is obviously comfortable being uncomfortable as Nick Twisp.
Nick lives with his mom (Jean Smart) and her latest boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis), a wheeler dealer who runs afoul of three angry sailors. So Nick and his family (such as it is) decide to go on a "vacation" and head for a trailer park in Northern California. Nick isn't happy to be going, but once he gets there, his life changes in an instant.
He meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), the daughter of religious fanatics and a girl with a subtle wild streak. She's amenable to Nick's advances and the two strike up a friendship and a fledgling love affair.
When Nick and family go back home, he is obsessed with getting back to Sheeni. This involves his father (Steve Buscemi) getting a job and Nick getting kicked out of his mom's house. Sheeni helps Nick in these two matters, and several others.
Along the way Nick's repression finally gets the better of him and he creates an alter ego named Francois Dillinger. The relationship between Nick and Francois is as engaging as the one between Nick and Sheeni. Francois is the devil sitting on Nick's left shoulder. There's no angel on the right. Nick himself is his own angel, but he's more than willing to take Francois' (and Sheeni's) advice.
By the third act, Nick is wanted by more than one California police department, has managed to get Sheeni kicked out of her private school, alienated most of the people around him and has tried to fake his own death with hilarious results.
Even at 90 minutes - and pared down from the novel - "Youth in Revolt" has a lot of depth. There are plot intricacies that elevate it above the run-of-the-mill teen angst film.
It's not for the prudish, though. There are no explicit sex scenes or any nudity to speak of but the frank discussions of sex, the drug use and the overall attitude throughout never pull any punches. Nothing is ever gratuitous here, but neither is it ever ashamed.
I'm looking forward to reading the epic novel, and after doing so, I plan to watch the movie again.
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.
