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RELEASED:
2009
DIRECTOR(s):
Miguel Arteta
PERSONAL RATING:
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Shy teenager Nick Twisp
lives with his mother, Estelle, and her boyfriend, Jerry, in Oakland,
California. After selling a faulty car to a group of sailors, Jerry takes
Estelle and Nick to a trailer park in Clearlake where Nick meets Sheeni
Saunders, a young woman his age, interested in French culture and sharing
Nick's musical taste. Despite her boyfriend, Trent Preston, they become
romantically involved. Nick gets a dog for her named Albert (after Albert
Camus), but Albert rips up the family's property and Sheeni's parents ban
it from the house.
Before Nick returns to Oakland, Sheeni promises to arrange a job in Ukiah
for Nick's father, George, while Nick agrees to get his mother to kick him
out so he can return to Sheeni. In Oakland, Nick creates an alter-ego
named François Dillinger, a suave, rebellious troublemaker. Immediately
after, Jerry dies of a heart attack.
Under François' influence, Nick mouths off to his mom and her new
boyfriend, police officer Lance Wescott. Nick takes Jerry's Lincoln, and
crashes into a restaurant, starting a fire. Lance agrees to lie and report
the car stolen in return for living with his father. In Ukiah, Nick phones
Sheeni and tells her he blew up "half of Berkeley" to return. Her mother
overhears this and ships her to a French boarding school in Santa Cruz,
forbidding Nick ever to see her again.
Nick befriends Vijay Joshi, and they take Vijay's grandmother's car to
visit Sheeni. They sneak into Sheeni's room, Nick meets Bernice in the
bathroom, and he claims Trent said terrible things about her. Later,
Bernice brings the matron to the room and the boys flee. On the way home,
the car dies and Nick calls Mr. Ferguson, his father's idealist neighbor,
to pick them up; telling Ferguson that Vijay is an illegal immigrant whom
Nick is trying to "free from persecution".
When he returns home, Nick meets Sheeni's older brother, Paul, who tells
him that she will be returning home at Thanksgiving and invites him. Nick
sends Bernice letters asking her to slip sedatives into Sheeni's drinks to
make her sleep in class, getting Sheeni expelled. Nick finds Lacey,
George's 25-year-old girlfriend, Paul, and Ferguson, in his living room,
high on mushrooms, and Nick joins them. When George finds them, Paul
punches George. Lacey leaves the house to live with Paul. On Thanksgiving
Day, Nick receives a call from his mother explaining Lance left and will
not cover for him anymore. Then, at Sheeni's, Trent unexpectedly arrives
and tells them about Nick's letters to Bernice; Sheeni is horrified and
Nick leaves.
Nick steals his father's car to escape the police, then removes his
clothes and drives the car into a shallow lake in front of the police
station. He gets a wig and dress to impersonate one of Sheeni's "friends".
He fools Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, going up to Sheeni's room. Upstairs, Nick
tells Sheeni that he understands what loneliness is like, and that
everything he has done (burning down Berkeley, destroying his parents'
cars and having her sedated) was all so that they wouldn't have to be
alone anymore. Sheeni forgives Nick, and they have sex, finally achieving
Nick's dream of losing his virginity. Trent barges in, telling them he's
brought the police. Nick and Trent fight until the police comes to arrest
Nick. Nick asks Sheeni to wait for him; she reassures him that he will
only be in juvenile detention for three months.
The animated closing credits show Nick in jail with François helping him.
When Nick is released, Sheeni shows up in a car and they drive away into
the sky towards the Paris skyline, as various characters appear to make
amends and give them their blessing. |
