There is not much plot but a lot of talk in Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth, a character study of disenchanted New York dropouts in a provocative revival directed by Anna D. Shapiro at the Cort Theater. The play, which opened in 1996, still delivers the humanity of the stoned, dissatisfied Dennis and Warren in 1982, portrayed with humor and energy by Kieran Culkin and Michael Cera in memorable Broadway debuts.
The dialogue is sharp and snappy, establishing characters that you might not want living in your home. However, from a distance, they are heartbreakingly honest and kind of likeable. The crafty Dennis, played by Culkin (The Starry Messenger), is a nonstop schemer. His father is a famous artist who pays his son's rent at an upper West Side apartment just to keep him away from home. Dennis makes ends meet as a bike messenger and by dealing coke and does nothing to downplay his overblown self-confidence.
One night, a longtime friend, Warren, played by Michael Cera (Netflix's “Arrested Development”), shows up depressed and more needy than usual because his father has just kicked him out of the family apartment. He needs a place to crash, but Dennis is not interested, that is, until Warren shows him the $15,000 he had impulsively seized from his father's room on the way out. He also lugs along a large suitcase with a collection of childhood memorabilia including a '50's toaster ("mint condition") and treasured action figures. Dennis starts plotting how to use Warren's stolen money to buy drugs and agrees that Warren can stay on for a couple of days.
Cera is spot-on portraying Warren's nerdy acquiescence and insecurity even as Dennis taunts him about sexual inadequacy and endless misery. He listens as Dennis's schemes to buy a cache of drugs with the stolen money, sell them and pocket the profit, and replace the money before Warren's father realizes it is gone. No harm done. Dennis also plans to sell Warren's suitcase collection, although Warren is reluctant to part with his collection. While none of Dennis' enthusiastic ambitions reach fruition, he decides they should celebrate in advance and begins preparing for partying that evening. When he leaves to buy drugs, Warren, now feeling fairly secure and anxious for some fun, eagerly goes along with Dennis' plans, which includes girls, something he knows little about. The evening's love interest for Warren is Jessica, a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology. This is a Broadway debut by Tavi Gevinson, the youngest of the three actors and, actually, a recent high school graduate and successful fashion blogger/actress. There is not much depth written into her part as the fast-talking teen-philosopher, but Gevinson shows stage presence although her unmodulated voice often reaches scream volume and sounds shrill.
Todd Rosenthal's innovative scenic design features Dennis's unkempt flat on the lower level, topped with a high backdrop of lighted apartment windows and fire-escapes. Costume designer Ann Roth dresses Jessica in cute undergrad garb, but the look is more 2014 than 1982. Shapiro keeps the fast rapport between Warren and Dennis convincing, and playwright Lonergan (The Waverly Gallery) proves his finger is on the pulse of today as much as in the '80s.
This is Our Youth overflows with a zeitgeist of dissatisfied adolescents balancing on the cusp of adulthood. They want to grow up but aren't sure it's worth the struggle.
