Director Miguel Arteta's Youth in Revolt is like a lot of quirky, horny teenager-driven movies. Actually, I haven't seen many of those lately, so my sources aren't credible, but what I'll say for sure is that the way the movie starts is trite and familiar. The narrator comes in with a deadpan voiceover. Usually, he is witty and clever to a fault. A montage of highly edited and impeccably timed scenes will be shown under the voice, providing timely visual humor for the jokes. The exposition will be approximately 5 minutes long, usually ending with a short and powerful final sentence. In Youth in Revolt, it's this: "Needless to say, I'm a virgin." But it's also kind of cute how the first few sounds that precede this tired practice are those of the 16-year-old protagonist Nicholas Twisp, played by virgin-portrayer extraordinaire Michael Cera, masturbating quite fiercely to a nudie magazine. It was a normal movie opening, with a little something extra. I could tell that I would enjoy this movie.Twisp is a loser in a lot of regards: He collects old records; he completely fails at being smooth with the ladies; he wears high tube socks with his shirt tucked into his shorts; his voice is reminiscent of that of a prancing woodland fairy. One day, when his mother's boyfriend, Jerry (played by the increasingly popular comedian Zach Galifianakis, whose recognition is well-deserved), makes an error in judgment with a few Navy men, he takes Nick and his mother to a trailer park in northern California where Nick meets the love of his life. Sheeni Saunders, played by an average-looking-with-an-edge Portia Doubleday, is frank and bold. She also likes old records. She loves France and French people. She is daring and forthright, and she wants a bad boy. This is where Francois Dillinger, Nick's second personality and a badass in every right, comes in. Smoker, smart-mouth and arsonist, he helps Nick with his one ultimate goal: to be with Sheeni. Even if it takes millions of dollars worth of property destruction, getting an old-fashioned belt beating or taking dangerous hallucinogens to do so.

The acting in Youth in Revolt is quite good, with subtle but honest performances given by prominent actors in secondary roles. Jean Smart gives a particularly amusing but genuinely maternal quality to Estelle Twisp, Nick's mother. But Michael Cera is the one who outshines them all, even though he is a young actor only on the cusp of becoming incredibly famous. Francois Dillinger, though he looks strange with that ill-attached moustache, is an exceptionally performed foil for the gangly and doe-eyed Nick. This character finally gives the now 22-year-old Michael Cera a chance to act his age, and badass at that.

This movie sparked in me a feeling that I haven't felt in a long time: a spark of childish fantasy, a kind of desire to be a rebel. I felt proud to be a youth in revolt. I wanted to be a badass like Francois right after I saw the movie, and as I walked to my car, I had a strut in my step. It was kind of like that feeling you got when you read the Harry Potter books for the first time. You wanted to be a wizard after you finished. You wanted to have magic powers, have a pet owl and fly on a broomstick to play a ridiculous ball game. The film was heartwarming and sweet but still had a melancholy and quiet sadness that dampened what would have been overly bright undertones. Like when you realized that you really never could be a wizard, but being able to escape into the books was an experience in itself.

Youth in Revolt is sweet and very funny, happy but underwhelming, with a heavy and unmeasured dose of sexual humor thrown in. Let me prepare you before you go to the theaters, though: There is animated sex and velcro wallets, Cera is pantsless for 40 percent of the movie, and the slow-motion shower scene is not really what you would expect.