Youth in Revolt (2009) - Arteta's charming, funny indie of escaping virginity

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Michael Cera and his double nearly block out female co-star Portia Doubleday on this awkward poster for Miguel Arteta's Youth in Revolt

Teenager Nick Twisp's parents are divorced and ridiculous, and he no longer wants to live as a virgin. On a spontaneous trailer park holiday, he meets the girl who he thinks may be the great love of his life. To secure her, he tries a bit of everything.

The party seems to never end with this charming youth sex/romance dramedy. It is ripe with writers' inspiration, based on C.D. Payne's (Invisibly Yours (2010)) epistolary novel Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp (1993) and written by Gustin Nash (Charlie Bartlett (2007)). The third act seems a bit rushed but otherwise this is a knockout work.
The film has some great supporting roles and funny, quotable lines, an unpredictable plot and sweet sequences that use animation and puppets. Michael Cera's (Arrested Development (2003-18)) knack for irony, deadpan delivery and physical comedy is explored at length in this gem.
Youth in Revolt is directed by great Puerto Rican filmmaker Miguel Artetea (Beatriz at Dinner (2017)).

Related post:

Miguel Arteta: Cedar Rapids (2011) or, Insurance-Man

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 19.6 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Youth in Revolt premiered 11 September (Deauville American Film Festival, France) and runs 89 minutes. It was shot on location in Michigan and Louisiana from July - September 2008. The film opened and peaked at #9 to a 6.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 15.2 mil. $ (77.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.9 mil. $ (14.8 %) and France with 0.4 mil. $ (2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. It won a National Board of Review Top Independent Film award. Youth in Revolt is fresh at 65 % with a 6.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Youth in Revolt?

Cedar Rapids (2011) or, Insurance-Man

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Ed Helms looking like a moron, frankly, on the poster for Miguel Arteta's Cedar Rapids

QUICK REIVEW:

Upheaval is coming to a small town insurance company, and a childish employee gets sent to the important award conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here he learns a thing or two and gets forced to step up.

Cedar Rapids is a low-budget comedy, which looks like a low-budget comedy and is about people in the insurance business ... In other words, it is a pretty unsexy film starring Ed Helms (The Hangover (2009)), whom I didn't think was particularly funny in it.
The film gets lifted by John C. Reilly (Carnage (2011)), and it has some scenes that get laughs, but also many that either miss their targets or are just plain not funny. Its script is written by Phil Johnston (Wreck-It Ralph (2012)).
Cedar Rapids is a thin feel-good comedy that is a near unofficial spin-off of the spectacularly successful Hangover. Perhaps my main issue with it was that I didn't relate to Helm's protagonist at all.
It is directed by the talented Puerto-Rican director Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt (2009)), who most recently made the underwhelming Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014).

John C. Reilly, Ed Helms and Isiah Whitlock Jr. in Miguel Arteta's Cedar Rapids

Watch the trailer here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 6.8 mil. $ (US only)
= Uncertainty
[The few foreign numbers I can find suggest that the film also did not set any foreign markets on fire: It made 0.5 mil. $ in the UK, the foreign market where it apparently did best. The film was shot in Michigan due to a more lucrative tax credit offered there. Although I can't know for sure without cost information, it looks like it was a big flop.]

What do you think of Cedar Rapids?