Release date: 5 February, 2010
The cast: Michael Cera, Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Zach Galifianakis, Steve Buscemi
The pitch: Nick Twisp (Cera) is your average mild-mannered teenage virgin. Desperate to woo the local beauty Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), Twisp develops an alternate personality – Francois Dillinger, a smooth-talking aesthete who leads Nick seriously astray in his pursuit of Sheeni.
The strapline: He Wasn’t a Rebel Until He Found His Cause.
The buzz: This is Cera’s first star vehicle following show-stealing turns in Juno and Superbad, and of course his breakout role as George Michael in TV’s Arrested Development. Based on a 1993 novel, the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to generally positive reviews.
Reasons this could be good: It’s a great cast – Galifianakis is hot property at the moment, Justin Long deserves a good comic role after slaving in Apatow bit parts, and it’s always good to see Ray Liotta do comedy. Director Miguel Arteta is no stranger to comedy either, having directed episodes of the US version of The Office and Freaks and Geeks. The trailer has at least four strong laugh-out-loud moments (the water suggestively hitting Cera’s head at 0:28 got the biggest laugh from us) and its star has undeniably good comic timing. It seems less sophomoric than other Cera vehicles too.
Reasons this could be bad: Is it just us, or does Michael Cera basically play the same part in every film he’s in? He’s in serious danger of being stereotyped as a randy, virginal hipster teen for the rest of his life. This seems distressingly familiar, sort of like Superbad if it was written by Diablo Cody instead of Seth Rogen. The repetition of jokes from the first trailer indicate that those are the best jokes in the film. And by the way, surely that’s a massive spoiler at 1:34?!
We think: The first trailer gave the film more of a quirky sheen than the broad comic tone sought for in this promo, and we’re hoping it is less an Apatovian farce than an indie comedy in the vein of Adventureland. Cera is a likeable screen presence, but surely he should try something new after this?
Music: Generic indie stylings until 0:54, when Bon Jovi hits us up with “You Give Love a Bad Name”. It’s 1:22 before Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” comes in. What are the odds of either of these being on the OST?
Did you spot?: Regular Christopher Guest collaborator Fred Willard crawling along the carpet at 1:50
Odds of you seeing it: If you’re not tired of Cera’s deadpan brand of postgrad humour, or quirky high school indie comedies, then perhaps you’ll give it a go in the cinema. For everyone else, it’s a perfect plane movie and little else.
Check out the official UK trailer, which was released December 7.
