Let reminders of past Michael Cera efforts where he plays a romantically stunted teen fade from your mind, for just as the kid’s shtick was straining on the tiresome, Youth in Revolt gives us Cera’s best character creation yet: Francois Dillinger. In the film based on the novel by C.D. Payne, young Nick Twisp, whose name conjures a future as a psychotic nurse (his words), needs to be bad, but 16 years as a straight arrow have caught up to him. So Nick invents one Francois Dillinger. He does all the things Nick can’t and says all the things Nick won’t. He makes Nick cool, suave and dangerous, but you know what they say about the monster you create…

Naturally it all begins with a girl. Sheeni (played by newcomer Portia Doubleday) is everything you could want in a girl: she’s smart, sexy and uninhibited. Nick loves her, but she’s merely intrigued. A summer week on vacation that culminates in a steamy make-out session ends when Nick’s mom’s boyfriend (The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis) throws his back out and needs to be reunited with his pain killers. The plan, thought up by Sheeni, is simple: Nick needs to get kicked out his Mom’s house, get his dad to move to Sheeni’s town permanently home, and then move in with his dad. But how to get kicked out by a mother that needs the child support payments? Enter: Francois.

Humorously written, expertly read, and excellently directed, Youth in Revolt charms thanks to a skilled filmmaker and a talented cast. The characters are quirky, but not in an exaggerated way that would lift any veil of disbelief in the story. Nick’s mom played by Jean Smart sometimes strains that a bit, but I’ve seen plenty of women over the years that can’t function unless they have a man in their lives no matter how duplicitous (Galifianakis’s Jerry) or available (Ray Liotta’s Officer Wescott). But when you get Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, and a half-naked Fred Willard in with the rest of this cast, you’re going to have to work pretty hard to not make the results funny.

Any inclination to trip over typical teen rom-com conventions is caught short by the way director Miguel Arteta moves swiftly from scene to scene; just when you think you catch wind of where a scene might be going, the script dekes and sets you off in a new direction. I don’t think since True Romance has one guy gone through so much to get one girl. From ultra-religious parents to being framed for a crime he actually committed to having salt thrown in his game by the class of a French Immersion boarding school, Nick (and Francois) work tirelessly to win the heart of Sheeni. And that’s even despite additional interference from her polo and ascot wearing would-be boyfriend, Trent, played with terrific stick up the butt villainy by Jonathan B. Wright            .

I think the last time I saw and reviewed a movie starring Michael Cera, I said he seemed to have lost his mojo. Well mojo secured with Youth in Revolt, but only thanks to a great script and a cast of wickedly funny actors. Doubleday is a find, but I wait to reserve judgment on some kind of ‘It’ girl status, though I will say that she holds her own amongst this cast. Youth in Revolt is smart, bright and filled with a great many laughs both subtle and gross. And hopefully Cera will take away the most important lesson taught at the Francois Dillinger School of Getting What You Want and that a little bit of danger can sometimes be a great thing.