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`“Youth in Revolt”: Another Love Adventure for the Ages
Nowadays it seems like most adolescent films have the same plot: unpopular kids try to get laid. “Youth and Revolt,” a film adaptation from the original novel by C.D. Payne, has a similar plot, but with a different approach. Nick Twisp, a 16 year-old loner played by Michael Cera of “Super Bad,” lives with his sexually active mother who is dependent on his child support.
Nick is invisible to women, never having a girlfriend and never experiencing sexual pleasure. It seemed as though “everyone was getting action,” according to Nick, who is surrounded by the sexual drives from his mother and father. Eager to break out of his lonely state of being, he decides that he doesn’t want to die a virgin. It isn’t until a group of sailors come to his house after finding a banana stuck in their engine that Nick goes on an early vacation with his mother and her boyfriend (played by Zach Galifianakis of “Hangover”) that would give him this opportunity.
After arriving at their destination, Nick becomes instantly attracted to a girl, eventually gaining the courage to invite her to the beach. He has so much interest in Sheeni Saunders that he wants to write a book about her, and when it all comes down to it, he would do anything for her. Unfortunately for Nick, after spending days with Sheeni Saunders, his vacation comes to an end, but that isn’t going to stop him from seeing her again. He is willing to get kicked out of his house for her, but in order for that to happen he has to be “bad.” This is where his alter ego comes into play, where he makes his first “bad” move by destroying a police officer’s car, resulting in Nick getting kicked out of his house. He is sent to his dad’s house and while there he visits Sheeni at school. In the midst of an intense make out session he gets caught by a female patrol officer at her school.
Ever so determined, Nick concocts a plan to get Sheeni kicked out of school by sending her close friend sleeping pills so that she would fall asleep through her classes. As his plan fell through, Bernice begins to fall for Nick herself, and in no time Sheeni is expelled from school. Days pass, and on Thanksgiving, Trent, Sheeni’s previous lover, exposes Nick forcing him to leave the house. Everything seems to go downhill from there, but the movie gives hope for awkward people everywhere looking for love.