Youth in Revolt, the Miguel Arteta adaptation of C.D. Payne’s novel starring Michael Cera, has been doing well as it plays the Toronto International Film Festival. Reviews have, in general, been more pleased with the film than I would have expected. Peter liked it, Cinematical said Michael Cera is “wickedly hilarious” in a performance that is “easily the best of his career,” and indieWire says it suggests more versatility to Cera than some would have allowed.

But now, according to an email blast from PR firm Allied, The Weinstein Company is moving Youth from October 30 of this year to January 15, 2010. What’s the story?

The Weinstein Company has been the object of great speculation over the last few weeks. While Inglourious Basterds did much better than expected, the party line is that the outfit doesn’t have much money to throw around. There were rumors that Rob Marshall’s Nine was being pushed to next year (denied by TWC) and Harvey’s notable buy of Tom Ford’s A Single Man. That deal reportedly came with an Oscar promise to Ford. This is after a significant delay for The Road, which was finally set to release in October, but was then moved to a Thanksgiving date: November 25.

By this time of the year, Harvey Weinstein seems to focus on one thing: Oscar. And while Youth in Revolt is being pegged as a decent film, realistically speaking it is not an Oscar contender at all. A Single Man, on the other hand, is definitely a contender. Given that TWC doesn’t have a serious amount of money to throw around, the obvious conclusion to draw is that Youth is being pushed to make room for Tom Ford’s movie.

And the January date might not be a terrible one. There’s nothing like Youth in Revolt hitting then. The film will now compete with genre films Daybreakers, which opens the week before, and The Book of Eli, also opening Jan 15. TWC also has Hoodwinked 2 slated for the same date, but that’s no competition for Youth.