Youth in Revolt

On the surface, Youth in Revolt seems to be the perfect hipster coming of age movie; with it’s obscure pop songs, absurdist fantasy sequences, and Michael Cera.

However, the original novel possesses substance lost in the movie adaptation. Having read the 499 page book (which took me many hours of unrelenting focus and determination, due to its perspective of a horny insecure teenager. In truth, I‘m still half of that, you can figure out which part, so it wasn‘t entirely a stretch.), I felt bored throughout the movie and also very assured since they seemed to cast this movie from within my own mind (except for Zach Galifianakis, who seemed kind of stubby. I was hoping for a burlier dude; maybe a young John Goodman or Jeff Bridges on a binge). Jean Smart, who is becoming the go to harried out of touch hipster mother (previously in the same role in Garden State), plays Nick’s single emotionally wrought mother here. Fred Willard plays Nick’s old hippy neighbor Mr. Ferguson, willing to help house any refugees at will. Steve Buscemi is Nick’s dad. Newcomer Portia Doubleday (who is incredibly toned down characteristically here) plays Nick’s ideal mate, Sheeni Saunders.

When reading the book, I felt Michael Cera was born to play this role. In the mid-90’s when the book came out, that type of character was certainly unheard of. A well read, old fashioned and astute teenager as the main protagonist?! How can this be? While movies like Scream, and TV shows such as Dawson’s Creek and every other Kevin Williamson-style movie had come out, none had a character as unique as Nick Twisp. Those male protags were all very masculine down deep and certainly were not as astute as Mr. Twisp. (Some may argue that Dawson among others, was kind of a movie nerd, this is not true. His favorite director was Steven Spielberg, who—no offense to Mr. Spielberg—is the go to for many a young film director who isn’t trying hard enough.)

Mr. Twisp’s type was still on the bench waiting to be signaled in. It would take almost another decade before young nerdy men could be thought of as the new ‘masculine,’ and they would certainly require a soundtrack that would herald something at the opposite end of the music spectrum, other than Frank Sinatra to be their generational sound. Which is why the choice of Michael Cera is so perfect yet so odd. He is certainly not the type that so many moviegoers will relate to on the surface. If any hipster likes Frank Sinatra, it’s as a joke of sorts, not a way of life. They laugh and admire his misogyny, alcoholism, and natural ability. They would never look up to him as an idol in the same manner like Nick does. Mr. Cera, however fits the look and mental capacity for someone like Nick. In reading the book, all I could hear was Michael Cera. His is Nick Twisp. However, Mr. Cera is, for many of the hipster fad, a generational spokesmen of sorts—the modern Ferris Bueller.

While Mr. Bueller, and in some way, Mr Broderick, had it all together, Michael Cera is vastly different. He is a personality and a type cast character actor known for playing men who are desperately trying to put and keep it together. The nerd movement took over pop culture and made it more or less ok to be unattractive, badly dressed and overall geeky or odd. In their conglomeration of modern, American pop culture, you could be smart and vaguely attractive, if you were the real thing. However, the book was written before hipsters became vogue. Nick is a throwback to a simpler time, when being a hipster meant you were smooth, cool and well read. A playboy hipster as it were.

In this production, Nick Twisp falls in love with Sheeni Saunders—a bookish, attractive girl. While she breaks the theoretical hipster rule of unattractiveness, she more than fulfills it with her endless knowledge of foreign languages, movies and novels. She bridges the gap of ideal pinup and knowledge young woman. (It’s a perfect dream, really.) She is Nick’s literary equal, and he believes they are meant for each other. Alas, her heart is owned by another (isn‘t it always in the Romeo and Juliet romances?), the ever classically masculine, yet academic (and somewhat effeminate) Trent.

Trent is the typical American protagonist, but in our presented reality, he is the outsider. He is the ‘nerd’ trying to fit in in the hipster dominated society by writing abstract poetry (which every good poet knows shows a sincere lack of talent) on the side, while he windsurfs daily and speaks a foreign language. A true hipster is, at the heart, self-aware, and proudly wears badges of childhood previously regarded as embarrassing. The once shameful nerd now wears his oversized glasses or tacky Christmas sweaters lovingly made by a parent or relative.

And that’s what we learn the value of Nick Twisp. Hipsters see their own chronology in Nick. Their search for identity throughout many years of awkward adolescence results in completion and acceptance.

Youth In Revolt • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Running Time: 90 minutes • MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language and drug use. • Distributed by Dimension Films