Until someone picks up my script for Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera tentatively titled “The Awkward Bros.”, the only thing that would compare comedically is two Michael Ceras. In Youth in Revolt, he plays Nick, a shy, nice guy who’s incredibly uncomfortable with life. Sounds pretty atypical for a Michael Cera role, huh? He lives with his mom and her rotating cast of boyfriends, portrayed in the film by Zach Galifinakis and Ray Liotta respectively. Early on in the film, they go up to a “cabin” which turns out to be a really shitty trailer, and thats kind of when the movie actually starts, after a cut that makes the intro credits claymation for some reason.

Minutes after arriving at the “cabin”, Nick meets a girl. Said girl, Sheeni Saunders, is pretty much the fuel for the entire movie. She has a boyfriend, but once Nick sees her vinyl collection and french movie posters, he just knows this girl has to be his. After his week is up at the trailer, he’s basically so obsessed with her he tries to create some sort of scheme where he gets to move up there. The plan is a two part-er, with the first part including getting his father to move up there, and the second involving acting bad enough to get kicked out of his mother’s place.

As you could maybe guess, this is where the title comes into play. This is also when most of the humor comes into effect in the film. Francois Dillinger is created as the devil on our lead characters shoulders. A complete polar opposite of this traditional Cera character, Dillinger makes him do things from stealing a car to eating an entire bag of mushrooms when he’s warned just to eat two. If you’re laughing at a Michael Cera on screen, it’s probably Dillinger, not Nick Twisp.

Suprisingly, the cast for this film was pretty amazing. Portia Doubleday, the female lead, does quite an amazing job for this being her first acting gig ever. They also brought in plenty of people who do amazing comedy like Justin Long, Fred Willard, and Steve Buscemi, who in my opinion is a great actor to play Cera’s dad. While the film can make you laugh, it seems much more keen to bring you into the relationship element the trailer’s cut so much around. The movie is nonetheless enjoyable, though it’s more like a rom-com than any of Michael Cera’s other projects.