Hannah Bailey stars in Nanette Burstein’s American Teen. Courtesy Paramount Pictures. Photo: James Rexroad.
American Teen (PG-13) * 1/2
By Kevin Craft
To make the documentary American Teen, director Nanette Burstein spent ten months at the only high school in Warsaw, Indiana filming the senior year of four individuals who not coincidently resemble the four main characters of John Hughes' iconic film The Breakfast Club. The point of her endeavor was to discover whether American teenagers -- even those who inhabit small, predominately white Midwestern towns -- resemble the archetypal high school personalities that have been codified in films from Sixteen Candles to Mean Girls or whether they resist being labeled by their peers and instead act as individuals.
The answer to her query is both yes and no, but in trying to answer it Burstein manages to expose a simple, often ignored truth: the everyday problems of ordinary teenagers are not very compelling.
For the first half of the film, Burstein's four subjects seem content to imitate the Hollywood archetypes she clearly wants them to resemble. After a painful breakup Hannah (The Rebel) rebels by skipping so much school that she is almost held back. Jake (The Geek) consistently expresses a desire to have a girlfriend, but he also voluntarily puts himself down so often and so disparagingly that it becomes difficult to feel sorry for him. Megan (The Princess) fails to orchestrate a social situation to her liking and responds by pulling a cruel prank that demonstrates her own immaturity.
Of the four, only Colin (The Jock) has a story that resonates with real emotion. His father, who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator, does not have enough money to pay for college, so to punch his ticket out of Warsaw he will need to earn an athletic scholarship. Unfortunately, Colin receives the least amount of screen time of the quartet, and his story gets lost among the self-pity and invented drama of the others.
As the film progresses and the kids become more comfortable having a camera constantly trained on them, they begin to break free of the boundaries of their scripted social roles and show signs of individuality. As this happens, the film becomes less interesting.
As labeled personalities, Hannah, Colin, Megan and Jake at least raise questions about why humans choose to conform their behavior to the expectations of others. But as individual high school students, they are painfully ordinary and ultimately uninteresting.
What Burstein failed to realize before trying to extrapolate deeper meaning from just another senior year in just another American high school is that the roles teens play during high school are not as paramount as pop culture often makes them out to be. Hannah, Colin, Megan and Jake's real adventures will begin once they leave high school and the camera stops rolling. The time they spend passing notes in study hall reveals little about themselves or the forces shaping their lives.
And by focusing so much on her subjects and not dutifully investigating the surrounding environments, Burstein fails to ask the most pertinent question: what pushes teens to conform to tired stereotypes perpetuated by media?
The best documentaries about teenagers (Seventeen, High School) focus on high school as an institution, and the best fiction teenage films (Porky's, American Pie) refuse to take themselves too seriously, opting to focus on the comical hijinxes of their characters.
Burstein's film fails on both accounts, and as a result the audience is forced to watch her subjects repeatedly say things like, "I guess that is what I am." This is not compelling film making; it just makes you hope that these kids will lighten up and learn to enjoy life.
With: Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Megan Krizmanich, Mitch Reinholt and Jake Tusing Writer-director: Nanette Burstein. Producers: Nanette Burstein, Eli Gonda, Ryan Harrington. A Paramount Vantage release. Strong language, sexual content and brief nudity, drinking and smoking. Running time: 95 minutes. Official site: www.americanteenmovie.com
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Published: 8/08
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Well, I really enjoyed this film. It was entretaining and it took me back to high school and made me feel ashamed about it. as i am sure these kids felts after watching the movie years later. The truth is that it was great to see how teenagers are so dreamy, cruel and inmature. The movie was entretaining, interesting and fun.
Posted by: colette on Mon, 2008-08-18 16:57