American Teen (2008)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Nanette Burstein

Writer:

Nanette Burstein (writer)

Release Date:

11 October 2008 (Japan)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Remember high school? It's gotten worse.

Plot:

A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques. |

Plot Keywords:

High School | Teen | Student | Spin The Bottle | Animated Sequence

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Hannah Bailey	...	Herself
Colin Clemens	...	Himself
Geoff Haase	...	Himself
Megan Krizmanich	...	Herself
Jennifer Lucht	...	Herself
Mitch Reinholt	...	Himself
Jennifer Sheopherd	...	Herself
Jake Tusing	...	Himself
Ali Wikalinska	...	Herself

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, sexual material, some drinking and brief smoking-all involving teens.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Australia:M | Japan:PG-12 | Denmark:7 | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-11 | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Warsaw, Indiana, USA

Company:

57th & Irving Productions

Movie Connections:

References AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)

Soundtrack:

Kings and Queens

While it did lack some things, It's still pretty good.

"American Teen" is honestly one of those movies that I was very weird about. Like I don't know if I was disappointed or just go what I was wanting to expect. Okay, well this is one of these subjects that I am always eager about to see in any film how they handle it. That subject is High School or School life for that matter. I must say very few of these movies can truly get this concept right, and I must say the ones that did (Mean Girls, Welcome To The Dollhouse, etc.) chose to do in an over-the-top fashion that happened to work. So when I saw that "American Teen" was a documentary about school life I couldn't want to see it fast enough. I just wanted to see somebody FINALLY get it right and actually show everybody what school life is TRULY like these days. I must say after I watched it, I don't know if I was expecting a little to much, but I couldn't help but not feel that feeling of satisfaction. Then again I just kept telling myself A. You're not these people they just happen to choose to explore the lives of, and B. This isn't your school, they're all different. So with that said let me tell you what I, Moviefreak4653, personally felt about "American Teen." Okay well for starters I like that it did stay in true documentary form, and I'm not saying it was set up, but there were some parts where you feel the people are maybe just a little TOO comfortable around the cameras that are making a movie that millions will see. I do like how it does stay on topic, and in time you can relate to at least one person in some way. I will say at some points you get bored with at least one of the main leads, and I will say maybe the filmmakers kind o, bit of more than they could chew. In this situation meaning maybe they became a little too caught up with everything that maybe wasn't so important, and in result found themselves needing to rap up the movie sooner than planned. Like, I honestly felt the direct ending was a little rushed. I also felt maybe they should have gone a little more into the actual school atmosphere and struggles as opposed to the ones at home. All in all, American Teen, while it did lack some things, is still enjoyable. And while they could have made the movie a little better it is still a good attempt. In fact I'm kind of hoping for a "American Teen" series that will go to OTHER high schools and maybe go more into other cliques or just go more into the ones they chose for this one. So overall "American Teen" is a movie that by my standards is not really great, but it's the kind of movie that it wouldn't hurt for everybody to get a little bit of every now and then.