Criticized ad nauseam for his perceived lack of versatility, 21-year-old comedy star Michael Cera gets a chance to stretch a little in Miguel Arteta’s adaptation of C.D. Payne’s novel, “Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp.”   His performance as the neurotic, pretentious, socially inept virgin, Nick Twisp, isn’t by any means a departure from his growing body of work, but it does color-in a shade or two of the rising star’s personality without sacrificing any of the laughs.

Nick isn’t your typical 16-year-old.  He’s an aspiring novelist who enjoys a good Fellini film, and is a hopeless romantic who’s resigned to his fate as an eternal virgin.  Trouble is, no girls his age have ever heard of “La Strada,” and would probably hate it anyway.  His caricatured parents (played hilariously Steve Buscemi and Jean Smart) don’t share his passion for high culture, and instead opt for filling the hole left by their divorce with a young blonde bimbo and a middle-aged fat guy with no future, respectively.

Cera has mastered the blazing desire that burns just under the ice cold surface of his characters.  In this go-around it is the quick-witted, well-read, fast-talking sexpot Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) that ignites that relentless adolescent yearning.  Sheeni is the yin to his yang, the peanut butter to his jelly, etc.  She knows more about mid-century foreign film than he does and sees right through his largely unwarranted pretentiousness.  And most importantly, she has already experienced the ecstasy of the ultimate intimate expression that he so hopelessly longs for.

The bulk of the film is comprised of Nick inhabiting, or more accurately being inhabited by, his French alter-ego, the rebellious Francois, in his attempts to win Sheeni’s love.  Francois, a mustached, cigarette-smoking, sunglasses-wearing anti-hero, is the devil in Nick’s head who causes him to burn down buildings, destroy $40,000 cars, and purposely get Sheeni kicked out of school so they can be together forever.

What makes all of this especially funny is that these character are only 16-years-old.  Absurd?  Yes.  But Arteta’s film is fully self-aware and revels in its absurdity.  A fact punctuated by a particularly funny scene in which Nick has finally been apprehended for all his dirty deeds and melodramatically proclaims his undying love for Sheeni as if that moment is to mark their last encounter in eternity.  She replies, eyes rolling, that he’s only a teenager and would likely be out of Juvenile Hall in no more than three months.  Its tongue-in-cheek approach combined with Cera’s irresistible charm and some fantastic cameos from Fred Willard, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Long, make “Youth in Revolt” a surprisingly enjoyable ride though the hyper-exaggerated emotional experiences of American youth culture.

Score: 4/5