The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, January 8, 2010 - 5A Terrible food, gratifying TV Q: How many people with hairless legs are in this picture? A: Two. Cer breks his mold 'Youth in Revolt' offers Michael Cera a chance to reinvent himself By KAVI SHEKHAR PANDEY Daily Film Editor As the title suggests, young Michael Cera ("Superbad") is indeed in revolt. 'He's in revolt against the social order preventing nice, polite, untoned boys from dating the smoking- hot girls of their dreams. He's in revolt against the Youth in hypocritical authoritative figures who have the gall Revolt to dictate what's right and At Quality 16 wrong without adhering and Showcase to the conduct themselves. But mostly, Michael The Weinstein Cera is rebelling against the naysayers who dismiss his "limited" acting ability and range. As many have noticed, Cera tends to play the sensitive, slightly awkward teen, with minor variations, in nearly all of his performances (see "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," "Juno" and TV's "Arrested Development"). In "Youth in Revolt," Cera finally breaks f egfrom his typecast. At the beginning of- the movie, he is simply Nick Twisp, a hap- less appreciator of vinyl records whose mom Blart: Mall Cop"), as Nick's equally sex- gets laid more than he does. But to win over obsessed friend, and Portia Doubleday, per- Sheeni (newcomer Portia Doubleday), the fectly cast as the ineffably irresistible Sheeni. girl he loves, Nick adopts an alternate perso- There is a glaring, unforgivable flaw here, na named Frangois Dillinger - an anarchic, but it's one that's more attributable to the chain-smoking, mustached Frenchman. failure of the marketing department than Frangois is perhaps Michael Cera's great- anything else. Many of the most uproari- est character, precisely because he behaves ous gags and shocking plot twists in "Youth contrary to all expectations of the actor. in Revolt" are carelessly squandered in its Frangois is crass, destructive and sexually trailer. True, as a commodity;the production confident - a complete reversal of the Cera company wants to create a market for their archetype. Under the instruction of the product, but this is an instance where adver- sociopathic Frangois, Nick commits delin- tising has compromised the entertainment quent crimes and engages in nefarious activ- value of a film. ities to get close to - and win over - Sheeni. Still, "Youth in Revolt" has enough sub- Yet, no matter how unsettling they may stance and dark, unexpected humor to sur- be, his actions and possible schizophrenia vive its marketing blunder. There are lots are always played for laughs. Cera's inherent of subtle shout-outs to cinephiles as well, innocence and "golden boy" status is embed- who will adore the film's understated ties ded in the mind, so it's easy to forgive his to French New Wave cinema. Nick Twisp reprehensible deeds. After all, everything he is essentially a teen sex comedy version of does is to reach his true love. Michel, the protagonist of Godard's "Breath- Thankfully, "Youth in Revolt" is not merely less." Once Nick falls under the influence of a one-joke film of Nick's maniacal alter ego. Frangois, he shows a clear disdain for the An outstanding cast supports the film, mix- law (and police) as he recklessly continues ing comedic veterans together with talented his quest for Sheeni's love, even with his face young actors. In small-but-crucial roles, Zach plastered all over the news. Galifianakis ("The Hangover") exploits his Michael Cera's legs may be everlast- derelict visage as the uncouth boyfriend of ingly hairless, but he has successfully Nick's mom and Fred Willard ("A Mighty silenced all detractors who label him as Wind") manifests his distinctive lunacy as a one-dimensional actor. Hopefully, this Nick's insurrectionist neighbor. The film also is the beginning of a new phun. inythe showcases the skills of Adhir Kalyan ("Paul actor's career. By CAROLYN KLARECKI SeniorArts Editor There's an abundance of reality competition shows in which people compete for the title of "best" or* "top" something. These battles cover Worst Cooks everything from modeling to sewing ifl Am1erica to, of course, cook- Sundays at ing. Still, there are 10 P.M. a great many people who could never Food Network hope to compete for these honors; and in all honesty, being terrible at something makes for better TV. That's why Food Network's latest reality competition, "Worst Cooks in America," stands out amid an other- wise repetitive line-up. The premise is simple: Chefs Anne Burrell and Beau MacMillan set out to find the worst cooks in America and attempt to teach them a thing or two. To raise the stakes, Burrell and MacMillan break the 12 wannabes into two teams. Each chef will impart their knowledge to a team chosen by the other chef, hoping to prove who's the better teacher. Contestants will be eliminated weekly, and the final chef on each team will prepare a dish for a food critic who thinks the meal was actually prepared by Chefs Burrell and Macmillan. The biggest problem with "Worst Cooks" is that the competitive ele- ment automatically negates the claim set up in the title. Each week, the chef who does the worst at the challenge must leave. The winner will not, in fact, be the "worst cook" (or even nec- essarily the "most improved"), and those who probably need the most counsel are booted off early. All the contestants are admittedly awful cooks, but some are clearly better than others. It'd be a shame to see the person who simply adds too much salt to everything win, rather than watch the person who thought peanut but- ter and cod make a good combination climb to the top. "Worst Cooks" lacks the biggest turn-off in most other reality com- petitions centered around demon- strating proficiency in a given field: pretension. The interstitial interviews during which cocky professionals pro- claim they're "the best" and the com- petition "better watch out" are traded for embarrassed and unconfident amateurs gushing about how they're honestly just thrilled to have the opportunity to learn. The raw desire for self-betterment shines through, creating a very honest program. But this honesty doesn't seem to be what the judges or producers want. Reality competitions thrive on rivalry and the things people will do to win. In the premiere, when one flustered contestant struggled to reproduce a shrimp and clam dish, a fellow "worst If you' can't stand the heat, then this kitchen is just for you. chef" came ,to his aid, causing his own dish to suffer. Rather than hav- ing their selfless and sacrificial act admired, they were chastised and both ended up in the bottom two. While Food Network wants this to be a gritty and intense competition with plenty of fights, it just won't hap- pen. True, Chefs Burrell and MacMil- lan exchange loads of banter and are terrifyingly focused on winning, but "Worst Cooks" isn't about them. It's about the poor souls who can't boil water; they're not going to fight each other when they've got bigger fish to fry. "Worst Cooks" should embrace that which naakes ip different. It's not about winning, it's about learning. Aspen'on a downslope By ANT MITCHELL Daily Arts Writer one is trying to' One positive of Aspen," ho Purposefully. over the top, focuses not on t "Secrets of Aspen" never pretends girls and their to be anything instead on the but what it is - the bitches." W trash. tion of "Secrets "Secrets of $ Of centrated on the Aspen" begins it's refreshing t with the return Aspen for once perc of the Colorado than women as resort town's 10:d0y.at trophies. The most "contro- 10:30 p.m seem to have n versial" resi- VH1 aside from how dent, Laura. of a particular Within what seems like the first would elevate five minutes, she and her female hierarchy. The entourage are already bikini-clad, of "Secrets of lounging in hot tubs and sipping women raeagir champagne. Later, they meet to (sometimes quit( go label shopping, saying things of war over thei like, "You have, like, the best VH1 molds t boobs for that dress." trionic atmosph After the shopping outing, fur- with unabashe ther plot description of "Secrets "Secrets of As of Aspen" would require a dia- proverbial bodi gram with lots of arrows pointing soap." It's bur every which way, or perhaps just a thing an audie 15-year-old girl. Apparently Laura was going to set Robin up with Shay, but then tried to steal him back on the dance floor by putting her boobs in his face, until Brooke got in a fight with Laura, because Laura thought she and Brooke were going to get their makeup done together. Suddenly, Kat is in the mix along with Ben and Erin and Star, and then all hell breaks loose. Basically it's impossible' to keep up with who's who, and whether or not they're fighting, best friends or sleeping together. Some possible tactics would be to go by hair color, or by who looks to have had the most Botox done. Most conversations in "Secrets of Aspen," are akin to verbal hair- pulling. Everyone constantly makes attacks on each other's controlling, selfish, manipulative and needy behavior. Rumors are spread, concerning whether or not so-and-so is a hooker, and every- Q: Boobies? A: Yes. "settle old scores." aspect of "Secrets wever, is that it he drama between r boyfriends, but ongoing "battle of While a large por- of Aspen" is con- e great man chase, o see a show that eives men rather s mere objects or women of Aspen o interest in men their acquisition ly desirable prize them in the bitch men are the meat Aspen" and the ig lions who are te literally) in a tug r hunks of beef. he tacky and his- here of the show d deliberateness. pen" fills out the ce of the "reality sting with every- oce. who watches these sorts of things could ask for, mirroring the freakishly full bras- sieres of the women who bitch their way through the half-hour show. Ultimately, it's difficult to decide if "Secrets of Aspen" can be considered a potential success. Quality or not, the show is what it sets out to be, in the most grossly The 'battle of the bitches' rages on. extreme way that it can be. A cer- tain portion of the public is being targeted, and those individuals will indeed want to watch it. The only questionremainingis wheth- er that audience will be large enough to keep the show afloat. Considering VHC has survived, on similarly refined and tasteful shows for over 25 years, longevity seems likely for "Aspen." COURTESYOF UNIVERSAL Q: Is this Streep's postcoital face? A: We don't want to know. Streep and Baldwin get hormonal By JENNIFER XU being the most frequently nomi- Daily Arts Writer nated actress in the history of the Academy Awards. She can trans- Some movies are so terrible, all form her voice and mannerisms that's left to enjoy is the acciden- like a chameleon, does a kick-ass tal campy hilarity of it all. These Polish accent and is funny to boot. movies include "Plan 9 From "It's Complicated" is the unfor- Outer Space," tunate marriage of Meyers and "Attack of the ** Streep. Meyers helms the tale of Killer Toma- Jane (Streep), a 50-something toes!" and, more, Its divorcee caught in a love triangle recently, "2012." with her ex-husband Jake (Alec And then there's COflPICaed Baldwin, TV's "30 Rock") and her the rest of the AtQualityl6 architect Adam (Steve Martin, crap. These and Showcase "The Pink Panther"). Jake, still movies (often Universal as immature and irresponsible as romantic come- a newborn babe, is now married dies) are not bad to a younger woman, and Jane enough to be laughable, but cer- has become the "other woman." tainly not good enough to enjoy. Adam, while shy and bumbling, As it is, they are content to drift offers a more solid future. lazily along in the sea of medioc- More interesting than the rity. fights between Jane and Jake is Nancy Meyers, who . wrote the battle for dominance between and directed "It's Complicated," Streep and Meyers. It feels like a is a paragon of said mediocrity. war between Meyers's horrible, She is consistently contrived and syrupy sweet lines and Streep's unimaginative. Her dialogue thespian grace. feels like tooth decay. But she The problem with Meyers isn't somehow found her target audi- so much that she's portraying ence among naive middle-aged older people in romantic rela- housewives. Because of this, she tionships, but that she's depicting has managed to enjoy a prolific older people acting like hormonal career directing terrible movies adolescents. She treats the audi- like "Something's Gotta Give" ence to frequent shots of Streep's and "The Holiday." contented postcoital face writh- Meryl Streep ("The Devil ing in ecstasy. It's profoundly Wears Prada") is arguably the uncomfortable at best. Meyers best currently working actress, also constantly needs to advertise and certainly one of the most pro- how technologically relevant she ductive. She enjoys the honor of is - Jane frequently video chats with Adam, they text and they constantly check their Blackber- rys. The title, presumably taken at least in part from the phrase occupying many a Facebook sta- tus (snaps for you, Nancy Mey- ers, for being so in-tune with our youth culture), is just as decep- tive. In truth, it's not that compli- cated. In the end, everybody lives a perfect life and the audience feels cheated out of something. There's nothing with which to identify in these perfect shells of human beings. Sweet syrup vs. thespian grace. They say you can't make a good movie out of a terrible script, but Streep makes "It's Complicated" a tolerable movie out of a terrible script. Baldwin and Streep are each seasoned actors with pleas- ant, watchable chemistry. As you wince through the cast's fake, tinny laughs, look carefully at Streep's eyes. It's almost as if she is rolling them at the camera. Meyers comes out the victor in the end, butjustbarely. Streep put up a good fight and, because of her noble effort, "It's Complicated" isn't as doomed to mediocrity as anticipated. COME TO THE DAILY'S MASS MEETINGS 420 Maynard Street. Jan. 11 and 13 at 8 p.m., Jan 24 at 6 p.m.