03: quick look: youth in revolt

i suppose i ought to start out by saying my least favorite movie genre is the coming of age tales. my movie buddy teases me about it because it's such an unusual choice. normally people say, romances, comedies, sci-fi etc. for me, nothing chaps my hide more than coming of age. usually they are (recent) period pieces, super saccharine, and paint a rosy picture of what for me atleast was way more than a season in hell. now that i got that out of the way, let me go on to how i would normally proceed in my review.

although i absolutely loved it, last year's ZOMBIE LAND wasn't my favorite movie. it was, however, the movie i happily saw the most, at four times. i usually don't like seeing a movie more than once possibly twice in a year. zombie land, however, had the element of surprise. from the brutally hilarious opening credits, till the closing-- it was so much better than i expected. it was a f*cking coming of age pic, and zombies or no, i LOATHE coming of age movies. 9 times out of 10 they suck. outright s-u-c-k. zombie land, didn't suck. and there's nothing like expecting nothing and getting a fantastic little gem on your hands. a movie that you can drag friends to, and know they are going to have a great time, because their expectations are low.

that brings us to YOUTH IN REVOLT, which much to my chagrin, is a coming of f*cking age flick. hmph. shut up. i know. i hate coming of age movies, you needn't remind me i said it not one paragraph ago. on the upside,youth in revolt? it's fucking phenomenal. a great cast, a fantastic story, funny as hell situations and lines, adorable little animated interludes(think flashes of gondry), and plenty of surprises. it's got nods to new wave and neo-realist films, great retro music (serge gainsbourg!), it's parts of DRUGSTORE COWBOY, FIGHT CLUB, BREATHLESS, but never bites so much that it chokes on it's source material. trust me, if you are in shouting distance, be assured, i am dragging your tired, unconvinced behind to see this, cos you will love it.

ps. if you're not in shouting distance, stay half way thru the closing credits. ;)