Youth in Revolt: My favorite film of the year

Michael Cera has done it again. He exploded into our hearts on Arrested Development, he tickled our funny bones in such a naughty way in Superbad, then when we thought he was washed up at a young age with Year One...BAM! He surprises the world with Youth in Revolt. What a journey, so far. He's still the top awkward performer on the scene today, beating out such semi-stars as Jesse Eisenberg and that guy from that show on TV that some people like. So enough fawning over Michael Cera, he gets that plenty enough from the hispter girls or the world.

Youth in Revolt - I didn't think much of this going in. Despite an introduction that sounds like someone has the hots for him, I don't actually love Michael Cera. He's kind of a one trick pony. And that trick is being done over and over again all over Hollywood these days. But he's the guy that re-invented awkward. Arrested Development was like a revelation. No, it was a revolution. And George Michael Bluth was that revolution. He was like all of us. Or at least most of us, or some. Or at least enough to say it's a cultural thing that young Americans are awkward. In Youth in Revolt, he starts out awkward, but grows beyond it.
The film opens like it's going to be another indie film with an awkward kid that masterbates and loves Frank Sinatra. In fact, there are several things that may cause you to think it'll be just another indie rip off; the girl is a Francophile that hates her parents, Cera is jerking off even before the opening titles are over, he has a record player, wants to be a writer, loves Italian movies, his mom is in a relationship with a total weirdo loser (Zach Galifianakis), etc, etc.
But the film takes all the indie gifts from the book it's based on, and does something great with it. The film follows Nick, a man-boy who is trapped in an adults' world. He meets Sheeni, a French loving femme fatale. In order to stay with her, he needs to change his circumstances, and since he's an awkward and passive teenager, albeit with a great vocabulary and awesome diction, he's got to invent an alter-ego named Francois Dillinger, based on Sheeni's imagining of her future husband and her telling Nick he's going to have to "be bad."

The film then turns into a sort of mix between Rebel Without a Cause and Fight Club. Nick has to manipulate his circumstances to move where Sheeni is. He does this through trickery, explosions and getting his dad, (played by the king of indie weirdness, Steve Buscemi), a job where Sheeni lives. Then, he has to face Sheeni's ultra-conservative parents, the French school Sheeni gets sent to, and the douche that Sheeni was dating, named Trent. Francois causes just as much trouble for Nick as he does to help him achieve goals, so it's fun watching Cera play off of that. The whole film is just so much dang fun! I watched it twice when we got it. Twice! Saturday, then Sunday. Then I watched a little with the commentary. I loved it! Loved it!
Here are the 8 best quotes from Youth in Revolt

8. Sheeni: "You have to be bad, Nicki. Be very, very bad."
7. Nick: Her name is Martha Singwal, she's 16... she's got toasted almond hair, so... she's only just recently returned from Nice where she's been conducting sociological research on the assimilation problems of italian immigrants... workers... down there. She's also a professional model, specializes in lingerie. She likes me quite a bit, she tells me that she likes my hair...
6. Francois: I'm not going anywhere until you sink your filthy dick in this tomato.
5. Francois: I'm gonna wrap your legs around my head and where you like the crown that you are.
Nick: If that's okay with you.
4. Estelle(Mom): I need that child support money to eat.
  Nick: Shouldn't you need that child support money to support your child?
3. Nick to Trent: I'll only ask once that you and your adorable sweater step away from the door.
2. Mr Ferguson: Nick, why are you naked too?
   Nick: Solidarity
1. Estelle: It would take an army of mechanics to do that!
    Jerry: Or a navy.....or a navy, baby.


Also, check this out.....
http://www.100thingsilearned.com/view.php?id=221