American Teen (2008)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

American Teen focuses on a group of students in their senior year at a high school in the little town of Warsaw, Indiana. There is 'The Jock' (Colin Clemens), 'the Geek' (Jake Tusing), 'the Rebel' (Hannah Baile), 'the Princess' (Megan Krizmanich), and 'the Heartthrob' (Mitch Reinholt). This stereotypes fit this kids like a glove, and even if you don't like it, stereotypes exist for a reason, high school has always been like this and will probably keep going on the same so don't expect any big revelations or cathartic moments. This is teenagers acting like teenagers. Sometimes it gets a little too much though, when certain cast members act like they're 11 or 12 instead of 17/18. And also, you have to remember, this documentary was filmed in a small town. I'm not American, but my guess is, in a big city, high school is probably 10 times harder, with more drama, more challenging and even more shallow. Plus, there's a lot of discussion in the boards about the "reality" of this documentary; I don't believe for a second that American Teen is 100% true and I'm sure some of the scenes might have been forced, and chronologically, not everything happen like we saw but, it is still entertaining and a fair portrayal of the lives of teenagers. The documentary does explore a little bit the background of each kid, Colin is fighting for an athletic scholarship to college because otherwise he can't afford it, Megan's behavior may be linked to her sister's suicide two years prior to this documentary, Hanna's mother is revealed to have a maniac depression and Jake tells a past incident that may have shaped who he is now but, as I mentioned before, at the end of the day, this is kids acting like kids. The background information does make it a little easier to relate to some of this individuals but I don't see anyone in their 30's/40's actually enjoying this documentary. American Teen is, in my opinion, aimed at a younger audience, either actual teenagers or people in their 20's who have gone trough some of this stuff, not so long ago.7/10

High school is a period of life that goes on to shape many of our futures as adults, and whether we share good or bad memories of those years, the magnitude of emotions as a result of changes within our systems, and our social circles, mold themselves onto our very being for the remainder of our lives. Of course, at the time, such moments seem notwithstanding—they feel transitory, and anything but the significant moments in our lives that they eventually reveal themselves to be. Cinema as an art form, has, over its long history of attempting to bridge the gap between such a key demographic and the people behind the camera, made many examples of such a time with varying results. Often the result is tepid; stereotypical characters, with the same-old problems and the same-old resolutions, and that's when there's even a hint of drama entwined within its makeup. That is why American Teen, with its scripted, pseudo-documentary approach to detailing the "gruelling" last high-school year of four teens, feels slightly less stagnant, and more endearing than most. In direct contrast to the normal fare excreted by Hollywood, American Teen is vibrant, layered and tangible; and that's what gives it that extra edge over so many of its peers.While the movie does focus directly on four individuals however, there is something to be said for the fact that much of the feature feels like one central story blemished with a few distracting subplots. This central figure comes in the form of troubled artist, and self-described "in-betweener" by the name of Hannah Bailey (played by herself, as do the remainder of the cast) who longs for a change of scenery away from her conformist, conservative hometown in order to pursue her dream as a film-maker. Taking place over her last year in the state however, we never get to see Hannah's "big" struggle to make her dream happen, but we do get to see the trials and tribulations that she must go through even to make it to the starting line. It's a touching, dynamic story that showcases all elements of high-school life in one very claustrophobic and vivacious persona—as the "in-between" residing within the cracks of high school cliques, Hannah offers the movie it's most compelling and multi-layered character who refuses (mostly) to subdue herself to becoming another classroom cliché.With a movie such as this however, it can often be hard as a viewer to try and decipher where the script ends and real-life characters begin—and this makes it even more impossible to make out where the actors' performances are coming from. Yet taken as they are on face value, American Teen paints a very realistic, often completely believable portrait of teenage life. The characters, while at times a little disagreeable, nevertheless provide the talents on screen with plenty to work with, and it all comes across effortlessly potent. Usually it is the case with such movies featuring a large ensemble of teenage actors that the performances become peg-legs of an already emotionally disabled script, but that is not the case here with a firm, capable cast helping to bring out the greater aspects of the sometimes tawdry screenplay. And while Hannah can certainly be seen as the feature's most compelling character, there exists no real standout to who gives the greater performance here as most give something special to the production that creates a better whole, rather than just a splicing of individual tangents.That being said, there still remains a distinct amount of disjointedness to the movie's story which –because of the nature of high school's divided groups and populaces- renders most of the four characters off-screen while the others tell their own story. As a whole, this polarising approach only draws the obvious weak points of the remaining three characters' tales to the forefront all too often, resulting in an experience that is coherent enough to establish the themes inherent to the script, but not to the point of creating a strong, emotional connection to anyone but Hannah.In the end, American Teen can be taken as exactly what high school represents in our real lives; it's an experience that should definitely be absorbed for what it is, but not taken any further, and used only as a projection for the future. There's a lot to learn, feel and revisit here in the pages of this small, rather unassuming snapshot of teenage life in the grand ol' US of A, but it's certainly not the resounding, all-encapsulating work that it tries to be; a strong, memorable and well-intended effort that for the most part rewards with realism and candid glimpses of such a momentous time we all go through at one point in our lives.A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)

Winning a place on the guest list to American Teen was not a high priority for me. When I heard the title, I thought it must be a teen movie, and when I read that it was a documentary, I was even less interested. I could not have been more wrong.This was the first time I've watched a documentary in a cinema, and it was well worth a Monday night. The stories of these five adolescents from Warsaw, Indiana were absolutely compelling, and wonderfully hilarious, as the raucous laughter from a near-empty cinema attested. Nanette Burstein has edited their experiences in their final year of high school with a deft hand, developing a rich, interwoven story well worth telling.Watching these young Americans over-experience every emotion imaginable was fascinating not only because of the universal comedy of youth, but also because it reminds you just how much better our own education system is. Which is quite an accomplishment when your audience is a cynical old ex-teacher like myself.American Teen is not ground-breaking or unique, but it is one of those rare pieces of film-making that exemplifies the best of the art form: simple storytelling, with characters that are easy to relate to, an awesome soundtrack, and an image of ourselves. Well worth a Monday night. Or even a Friday. Go see it.

I watched this documentary this afternoon, and really like it. It's quite entertaining, and though I've never been to America, it feels quite realistic to me.I've been a teenager not so long ago, and still can feel how that life feels. As a Chinese, most of us more or less feel jealous about American teenagers-they always seems live in a more wealthy life, have more freedom no matter in express their ideas or do things they like. The culture which open for sex and independent life always make people around me say: if i live in America...But after watching this film, I understand that American Teenagers also have their own problems, and if we see that from the original, we have so many common issues waiting to solve.When a boy or a girl riches 14 or so, we are sexually available, and sexual fantasy come along with it. Parents and teachers never tell us how to hook up with guys or girls, vise visa, they always tell us it is wrong to fall in love as a teen age boy, actually, they tell us it is wrong to fall in love as long as we are still a student-no matter we are 24 or 27. Hand in hand with the opposite sex is highly not allowed, don't even mention kiss. this always seem some kind of crucial for me, i just believe people should have the right to do anything they want and they can, on the condition of not harming others. Stopping others from doing things they really like, that is sin. Well, this is Chinese teenagers' dissatisfaction.But as i see these American boys and girls like and hate each other, flirting with the ones they like, bitching about other girls' private life and do bad thing upon their back... it just feels exactly the same with my senior years, at this point, don't have sexual education is not that important and not make me that mad anymore, what really beautiful in this is the youth we had.I've been cried for the boyfriend breaking, too. And i know my girl friend cried even harder than me, though my parents never know I had a boyfriend, other students parents seldom know they ever have boyfriends or girlfriends; in our school, we also have attractive guys every girl crushed on; they mathematic geek no girl wanna date; and of course, those bitches who always think they are the beauty queen, never know they are the most ugly person in the city from inside. We also have student who always want to go to the big city for their own dream, no matter how their parents freaked out-for he knows that this is the real way to live life, to step out and see the world as much as he can, and always do things he love and he's good at...Yes, we are the same, no matter where you were brought up and grew up, there's no need to jealous anybody from and culture and maybe no need to feel sorry for anybody from any culture-if they come from a environment harder, they must saw something different which made their life different, and we should make this as a power but something feel sad. I think their must have a reason of the life we have which different from each other.I love this film, not only it's entertaining, not only it showed me how American teenager's life is, but it made me realize: inside, we are all teenagers, we are all human beings, no matter which culture we are from, there's a way to make it beautiful and fabulous! The rest of it, just don't care.