Youth in Revolt 2009

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: Light, comic, and less black than the books, this is a fun piece of fluff that melts away like cotton candy. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: I laughed a fair bit. That's no ringing endorsement, but it's January. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: I love this new breed of dirty movie. It goes beyond leering, beyond sexism, to the core tension of a culture that ricochets between Puritanism and promiscuity. And it has in Michael Cera a sterling mascot. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Youth in Revolt is basically an absurdist ramble, but a terrifically likable ramble with several stretches of lively farce... Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Between delightful sequences of animation, vibrant performances by the likes of Justin Long, Fred Willard and Ray Liotta, and Arteta's mastery over comic tones ranging from the sensitive to the surreal, this is the rare movie one doesn't want to end. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Youth In Revolt is a little too clever and a little too willfully verbose for its own good, but it's rare and a little wonderful to see a comedy about the sex lives of teenagers that suffers from an excess of ideas and ambition instead of a dearth. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Doubleday's Sheeni is charming, smart and pretty and has just that hint of knowing danger that drives teenage boys insane. And Cera? No one does this kind of thing better, which is presumably why he keeps doing it. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: There are some good, sharp, surprising laughs in Youth in Revolt. So why does it feel so dreadfully familiar? Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: Mildly diverting rather than uproarious, the film still stands out among teen sex comedies for its low-key approach to antic material. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: A clever and often riotous burst of cynicism that pushes, let's face it, some pretty questionable ideas. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Some may find such elements desperate or calculated in their quirky-cuteness, but I think they add to the movie's efforts to evoke the surrealism and excruciating intensity of, as the title puts it, youth in revolt. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Youth in Revolt is a teen fantasy filled with lust, imagination, frustration and lots of laughs, artfully made and superbly played. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Truth is, there's also too much 
 Michael Cera. Which isn't the star's fault. I blame the movie's bad timing, and its delayed release. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: Areta's film has whimsy and a few great lines, but not enough originality. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: The studio's lackluster release will likely mean it'll thrive on DVD. Don't wait for that. Youth in Revolt is worth making a trip to the theaters. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Youth in Revolt follows what happens when a good kid turns hilariously rotten for the sake of love. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Perhaps this all works better on the printed page, where readers don't actually have to watch the character behave so rudely. (Or better before Cera rewrote much of the script.) Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Francois ultimately resembles every other character Cera has played, only with a mustache and a dirtier mouth. If he wants to show us what else he can do, he'll need to stage a much bigger rebellion than this. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: An improbable but hilarious combine of losin'-it comedies and the rarefied, Europhile air of the Cinema du Twee. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: "Punk" and "rebel" don't belong in the same sentence with "Michael Cera." But somehow, they connect in the few-holds-barred teen comedy Youth in Revolt. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Although director Miguel Arteta's adaptation of C.D. Payne's cult-fave book series brings little new to the coming-of-age comedy genre, it's hard not to be beguiled by Youth in Revolt. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's not that the film is fatally flawed, but the tone is uneven, the satire is blunt, the comedy rarely generates more than feeble laughs, and the lead character never comes fully to life. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Cera's style lends itself to one note, and the movie wisely gives him another character to play, an imaginary alter ego named Francois Dillinger, inspired by Jean-Paul Belmondo. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Director Miguel Arteta, working from a tight script by Gustin Nash, tinges the mirth with malice. Sweet. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The picture has enough charm to make us feel something for its shy, gangly protagonist, and enough bite to keep us from wanting to kill him. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Youth in Revolt is a delightful film that makes no apologies for its irreverence. It's also the first great comedy of this decade. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Cera may be trapped in his unchanging persona, but no more than this picture is walled in by its sitcom conventions. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It's an amusing concept as far as it goes, although it doesn't go far enough. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Uneven but occasionally quite funny... Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: It's a kick to see Cera cut loose from his patented befuddled-nerd routine, even if the film's caricatured performances and fish-in-a-barrel scorn are sure to be monotonous for some. Read more

Tom Huddlestone, Time Out: The tone throughout is moderately quirky rather than full-on teen-flick vulgarian, bolstered by indie-cred cameos. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's a pleasant surprise to see the engaging, soft-spoken star of Superbad and Juno stretch and play a devil-may-care slimeball. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Cera and his gifted comic co-stars elevate the mediocre source material into a semi-iconic coming-of-age story. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: Nash and director Miguel Arteta try too hard; they want their movie branded a cult favorite before anyone's even seen it. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: From The Catcher in the Rye to Rushmore, it's a story we've seen in better versions before. Read more