What strikes me as odd is this film’s title. Why? No youths revolt! The teenagers simply behave as any ordinary American youths would as they are raised by incredibly poor parenting. As a backdrop to trying and adventure away from any real family time, the fantasy of behaving badly by wanting sex is a teen’s dream world. But it ain’t. Imagining sex as freedom in this film is actually just watching the youths imitate their parents. How predictable–no revolution here at all.
Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) watches day after day as his mother Estelle (Jean Smart) hooks up with one my-beer-goggles-work-fine-and-this-guy-looks-great after another. One stumpy bearded troll chugs a beer in one gulp, burps, and then lures this “mother” into the trashy area of an RV trailer–sliding plastic folding door and all. Apparently her son is supposed to listen and this doesn’t bother her.
Later in the film, when Nick’s alter ego–the supposed bad boy of the film, Francois Dillinger–asks a different boyfriend what all that noise was last night, he’s told to watch his mouth. Kids speaking up to parents’ bad behavior ain’t allowed much. Let the “acting-out” phase of teens begin. Again, are youth acting or imitating? And his biological father, George (Steve Buscemi), sleeps with a young blonde-thang half his age. Nick laments in a scene early in the film that everybody around him is getting some except for him.
Twisp longs to find a mate of his own. One sunny morning, on his way to the trailer park shower, he does. Now, the opposite of Nick’s parents who will bed most moving objects without question, are parents who profess that sex is the work of the devil. His new girlfriend, Sheeni (Portia Doubleday) endures being raised by this “parental” type. Devout church goers, they attempt to seclude their daughter indefinitely. But Nick finds a way to reach her through many trials and tribulations, which comprises the entire film’s storyline. Surprise! In the end these two youths don’t revolt at all, but instead consummate their relationship. What could be more natural?
What strikes me as edgey, however, is the film’s writing. I sat in an audience of young adults at the movie theater and laughed away in counterpoint to their silence. The one-liners are clever and damn funny. For adults. The youth sitting near me were too close to the material to laugh at themselves. So, I’m less sure what audience the movie targets. Also, the director Miguel Arteta inserts some colorful stop-animation that I find intriguing. Maybe that artistic touch connects with teens.
Ultimately, though, this film makes for an excellent video night at home–funny, sweet, and sleepy action. Gotta love that the daring-do male lead finally makes it with his gal–and, yes, in a dress posing as Carlotta.
Yet Nick utters one poignant line that covers all of us striving to find love. Here he’s gone through so much to land the security of a relationship, and as they haul him away to jail for some of these efforts, he admits that he just had to play the role of himself. That just Nick Twisp was enough for his amour. What a novel idea–being you in all the glamorous ordinary that implies is more than enough to find love.
Posted by karolinawrites 