Youth in Revolt
Dimension Films | Release Date: January 8, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin Wilson
Bursting with smart dialogue, surprising situations and humor that springs from richly imagined characters. Read full review
88
New York PostKyle Smith
An improbable but hilarious combine of losin’-it comedies and the rarefied, Europhile air of the Cinema du Twee. Read full review
80
EmpireAndrew Male
It’s chaotic and episodic, but this is Cera’s star turn. "Superbad" meets "Fight Club?" That’ll do it. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
One of the secrets of Youth in Revolt is that Nick seems bewildered by his own desires and strategies. He knows how he feels, he knows what he wants, but he'd need a map to get from A to B. It's his self-abasing modesty that makes the movie work. Here, you feel, is a movie character who would find more peace on the radio. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The slight but enjoyable Youth in Revolt finds plenty of mayhem to take advantage of Cera's against-type performance. Oh, the things we do for love. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Some tacky animated sequences notwithstanding, Youth in Revolt is smart, cool and frequently hysterical. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
A clever and often riotous burst of cynicism that pushes some pretty questionable ideas. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It’s not earth-shaking, but it’s diverting and polished. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Cera exudes a geeky charm and tender vulnerability that's hard to resist -- probably because he's far easier to relate to for most of us than we'd like to admit. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
The collision of adolescent hormones and parental folly, hardly new cinematic territory, gets a bracing absurdist slant in Youth in Revolt. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter Debruge
Cera and his gifted comic co-stars elevate the mediocre source material into a semi-iconic coming-of-age story. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
It does give Cera a chance to play at being a bad boy. But it's just that - playing at it. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderCliff Doerksen
Mildly diverting rather than uproarious, the film still stands out among teen sex comedies for its low-key approach to antic material. The best bits are supplied by Justin Long as Doubleday's stoner brother and Adhir Kalyan as the hero's plummy-accented coconspirator. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Youth in Revolt is basically an absurdist ramble, but a terrifically likable ramble. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Sweet and slight and often charming coming-of-age tale. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Along the way, it even gives the adorable manchild Michael Cera the chance to reinvent himself as a possible sex symbol -- in other words, it allows him to be a man. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Miguel Arteta’s rollicking Youth in Revolt is one of several recent movies to elevate the generic coming-of-age teen sex comedy to a plane of surrealism. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Arteta’s well-intentioned film version feels simultaneously overstuffed and undercooked. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It’s an enjoyable enough exercise in teen angst triumphing. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
From the beginning, it's apparent that there's something "off" about Youth in Revolt. 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 full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
There are some good, sharp, surprising laughs in Youth in Revolt. So why does it feel so dreadfully familiar? Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's a bitch telling a coming-of-age story minus clichés and sappiness. So Youth in Revolt, with Michael Cera in his best performance yet, is a small miracle. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Youth in Revolt isn't bad -- the cast is too good for it to be bad. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Youth's screenplay, by Gustin Nash, is generally witty. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Equal parts inspired and irresponsible, the new film from Miguel Arteta (director of the cult hit 'Chuck and Buck') turns C.D. Payne's books into a hit-or-miss homage to that French classic of outlaw love, 'Breathless.' Read full review
60
Time OutKeith Uhlich
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 full review
60
TimeMary Pols
Uneven but occasionally quite funny. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineAmy Nicholson
Payne's book is more epic and shameless than Gustin Nash's tidy adaptation. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Timing is everything. And Youth in Revolt is late -- arriving not just at the tail end of the star's sell-by date for this particular kind of character, but more importantly at the tail end of the intended audience's attention span for an inconsequential Sundance-y tale of sexual coming-of-age. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Cera can be winning enough, with his flat-toned goofiness, in films like "Superbad," but there's only just enough of the guy to fill out one dramatis persona; two at once prove to be beyond him. [11 Jan. 2010, p.83]
50
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Winded and weary from its long journey to a bigger screen, the three-books-in-one has been squeezed into a 90-minute Cliff's Notes version starring Michael Cera as Every Role Michael Cera's Ever Had. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
In Youth in Revolt , Cera bellies up to the same table once too often. His fresh-faced act is starting to look really stale. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
A movie that feels written rather than lived; from "The Catcher in the Rye" to "Rushmore," it's a story we've seen in better versions before. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Just sweet enough to avoid being negligible. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
While Cera is charming enough to keep us watching, he's never allowed to cut loose -- even though that's supposed to be the whole point of the movie. Read full review
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