American Teen | Christian Toto reviews, DVD, Documentary | DONNE TEMPO
American Teen
Princess. Jock. Geek. Rebel. Heartthrob.
The director follows a group of seniors who hail straight out of Middle America - Warsaw, Indiana, to be exact - to find out what makes today's high school students tick.
It's their last year of public school, a time when college entrance exams are suddenly just as important as schoolyard crushes. Megan, the permanent prom queen, had better get into Notre Dame or risk shattering the family tradition. Jake just wants to find a girlfriend, but his penchant for saying precisely what he thinks torpedoes any fledgling romance.
Poor Hannah gets her heart broken early on and does her best to recover despite the soul-stifling comments from her parents. Jocks Colin and Mitch seem to have it the easiest, but both battle pressures from their parents and their school's unofficial caste system, respectively.
It's all arresting to watch, even if you've long since left your high school daze behind. And for those who argue high school has always been an emotional minefield, just imagine getting dumped via a curt text message.
Burstein's fly on the wall approach, combined with some slick camera work and a few unnecessary animated sequences, creates a fine time capsule for teenagers circa 2008.
A few critics labeled "American Teen" suspicious during its brief theatrical run. It's not hard to understand why. The film is so adroitly packaged, its story arcs so perfectly tidy, that it's hard to believe Burstein caught lightning in a bottle as she does. And why would a sharp cookie like Megan commit vandalism while a team of camera crews caught her in the act?
But quasi-documentarian Michael Moore and faux reality shows like "The Hills" have lowered the bar on just what makes a real documentary these days. Rather than debate the truthiness of "American Teen" why not revel in its sharp, sophisticated storytelling.
The Goods: Reality television has lowered our expectations regarding this type of documentary material. But Burstein gets it better than most TV-based directors. She gained the trust of her charges and let them share their concerns in ways that feel genuine and unrehearsed. It helps that today's teens are growing up in a reality TV/youtube.com culture, so having a camera nearby is hardly the obtrusive element it might be for their parents.
The Mandatory Extras: What looks like a solid array of features turns out to be a disappointment. The character trailers offer little but repackaged film footage, while the brief Q&A segment leaves plenty to be desired. The boys and girls are put in two groups, and you suspect their tongues would be looser if they chatted with the off-screen inquisitor separately. They all sound like vapid actors hitting the softball questions for scratch singles We do learn the director focused on 15 students in order to come up with the five high schoolers featured here.
The best extras involve Hannah's video blog entries. She's the one student who could emerge from "Teen" as a star. She's disarmingly pretty, opinionated and she can't help but lay her feelings out for all to see. And she's funny, too, like her video testimonial to her favorite pooch reveals: "I'd much rather have a dog than a boyfriend," she says.
Above and Beyond: "American Teen" should have included commentary from the director, or some more moments featuring the teens' parents. But it remains a highly watchable feature for most audiences, and a wake up call for parents with children about to enter high school.
— Christian Toto
