I'm sure I've already told you how Youth in Revolt is one of my favorite books of all time. And I'm sure, since I last wrote about it, a bunch of you have gone out and picked it up. Right? Revolt tells the story of 14-year-old (though they've aged him up to 17 for the film) Nick Twisp; a story that follows him (through personal journals) going to the greatest lengths imaginable just to score his dream girl, Sheeni Saunders. Amidst the madness, Nick (who will be played by Michael Cera) jumps between his two divorced parents, one of which (the filthy, sex-obsessed father) will be played by the very awesome Steve Buscemi. Variety tells us Ray Liotta and Jean Smart have also joined the cast, and though they don't say, The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Liotta will play Nick's mother's psychotic boyfriend, while we assume Smart will play the poor kid's neurotic mom.

It's nice to see The Weinstein Co. have made this flick a priority; currently, they're at Cannes trying to secure foreign markets. Youth in Revolt is an incredibly hard book to adapt, and earlier this year I spoke to screenwriter Gustin Nash (Charlie Bartlett) a bit about the difficulties of adapting and trimming Youth in Revolt for the big screen. One thing we did touch upon was how the book's second greatest character was still yet to be cast: Sheeni Saunders. As Nick's love interest, Sheeni carries the combined traits of every girl you've ever had a crush on: she's pretty, she's smart, she's devilish and she knows just how to get what she wants, when she wants, how she wants it. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a good young actress for the role. You?

Charlie Bartlett is Juno's dorkier, needier cousin, the one who's watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off too many times. Am I talking about the teenage title characters or the films themselves? Both, to a certain extent. Charlie Bartlett is a standard coming-of-age comedy with some amusing quirks, but as with Juno, I found myself enjoying the company of the older characters in the film far more than the teen leads.

Poor little rich kid Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) wants nothing more than to see all his high-school peers look up to him. So he does crazy dumb things that get him kicked out of a progression of private schools, like making amazingly realistic fake IDs. As a result, his dippy but sweet mom (Hope Davis) sends him to public high school, where his private-school ways make him an instant pariah. But he's determined to fit in and tries to find a niche to fill. Charlie eventually ends up pulling more crazy stunts, but settles down to helping kids with his bathroom psychiatry gig. Still, his antics aren't going over at all well with Principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.), especially since Charlie seems interested in Gardner's daughter Susan (Kat Dennings).

(Note: I'm stepping in for Patrick this week, but fear not -- our beloved Patty Walsh will be back next week with another installment of The Write Stuff.)

At 26, Gustin Nash was an aspiring screenwriter working in a Burbank mall -- hanging with a bunch of kids (what he calls the "mall sub-culture") -- watching movies, and looking to his father, a psychiatrist, for advice on the future. One night, while down in the dumps and unsure of his path in life, Gustin's father told him to make a list of things he wants to accomplish and next to each write down, "You can do it." Later on, in bed, Gustin dreamt up a new character -- one that, no matter what life threw at him, would always remain optimistic and open-minded. Thus, his tenth spec script was born ... and he called it Charlie Bartlett.

Little did he know at the time, but Charlie Bartlett would become Nash's first produced screenplay. And not only was the film made (with a cast that includes Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey Jr. and Hope Davis), but it's also heading to a theater near you this weekend. Cinematical spoke to Gustin about writing Charlie Bartlett, working alongside director Jon Poll on set and what it's like to watch your baby land on the big screen for the first time. Additionally, since I'm such a rabid Youth in Revolt fan, I also asked Gustin (who penned the adaptation) what we should expect from that film when it eventually hits theaters.

Under New Line, Michael Shamberg and Stacy Sher are getting ready to produce a new romantic comedy written by Gustin Nash (Charlie Bartlett) called Missed Connections, according to Variety. No, it's not about a bunch of tardy people who miss their connecting flights. Nor is it about a fiery connect-the-dots tournament. Instead, it's about a bunch of people searching for the holy grail of love and friendship on the world of the Internet -- or, rather "in an era of instant communication," but I assume that means the net. Will they not get an important e-mail until too late? Or, maybe they miss a connection between their object of online affection and their own life. You can play the degree game (like Kevin Bacon's) all over the web, with yourself at the center, and I think we've all heard that cautionary tale of the girl who fell for a guy online, but was mighty surprised to see who he was when they met in a hotel room.

But it probably won't dip that much into the darker comedy. Sher asks: "The question is how do you fall in love at a time when people are growing less intimate despite being more connected?" Shamberg is comparing it to two of his previous projects -- The Big Chill and Reality Bites. Will it include a bunch of old friends hardened by the real world? Will a Lelaina struggle to find a job, but misuse 'irony' in an electronic letter, and then rue the fact that Troy is so darned distant as he slacks with other disenchanted grads online? How would you throw all of these thematic bits together?

In case you haven't noticed yet, Hollywood has become real interested in adapting comic books and graphic novels -- and actors who wouldn't normally take on this kind of material (um, Edward Burns?) are suddenly racing to acquire the next "hot" property. Personally, I've been waiting for Ice Cube to take off his diaper for awhile now; the man hasn't starred in a film that kicked ass since xXx: State of the Union, and even that wasn't very spectacular. Prior to that, he starred in the weird motorcycle flick Torque, but in all honesty I have to go all the way back to 1999 (and Three Kings) to find the last enjoyable film starring Ice Cube. Now, hopefully, that's about to change. Variety reports that Cube's shingle is circling a big-screen adaptation of the graphic novel 10, by Shannon Eric Denton and Keith Giffen. Gustin Nash and Jesse Cale have already adapted 10 for Dimension, and Cube would come onboard (most likely) as a producer and the film's star.

I'm already jazzed about this project, because the story has tons and tons of potential. How's this for a set up: Some guy receives a piece of junk mail informing him that he's in a competition with nine other people, and the last person left alive wins. At first he thinks it's bogus (my neurotic ass would be at the police precinct in 10 seconds), but when some dude with an ax shows up at his door, the game is officially on. I haven't read the graphic novel, although part of me wants to pick that sucker up, like, today. Writer Gustin Nash was also the guy hired to adapt one of my favorite books of all time -- Youth in Revolt. And if he can make that book work on the big screen (trust me, if you've read it, you'll know that's no small task), then I have very good feelings about 10. What about you?