Review of American Teen (2008) by Dan M — 09 Sep 2009

This movie does nothing to "go beyond the stereotypes" of high school. The director is a completely inane to think that you could actually get a look at the inner workings of the teenage mind and high school by having camera crews following 5 selected students.

Besides do you really think that this school, the students parents, and the town of Warsaw would let a documentary out that was showed them in anything but a good light or show something that could possibly damage their reputations.

You can just smell the set ups and the lines that are being fed to the kids during the re-shoots. No way this is or ever could be a true portrait of an American Teen. Does the director even remember what it was like to be in high school? If you followed a normal teen for 10 months without setting up situations and confrontations you would maybe be able to pull 45 mins of semi-interesting footage.

While I don't doubt that the emotions and desires of these kids are true and somewhat cliche (I can remember saying the same things as Hannah when I was her age) everything else is set up.