Review of American Teen (2008) by Rod S — 11 Feb 2010
Exploitive garbage being paraded as real and authentic. You'd have to be an idiot to not realize the whole film is either staged or heavily manipulated. The fact that director Burnstein labels her subjects with sterotypical titles like "geek" and "princess" is tacky, unoriginal, and just plain stupid.
Maybe even offensive. The film isn't even interesting in it's investigation of teen life. No drugs? No abortions? No violence in the halls? Not the high school I remember. The film follows rich privileged kids whining about prom dates, college scholarships, and the big basketball game as if they're the most important events on this earth.
It's also dreadfully lacking any creativity. There's even a big game where the jock learns to not be selfish and play as a team resulting in winning the championship! Give me a break! To me, this is just another dose of our culture and it's obsession with reality T.
V. and this is a dangerously close crossover into film. Despite the fact that all these events happen like they are real, they can't actually happen without some manipulation because there is a CAMERA, a DOLLY, a BOOM OPERATOR, and SOME CREW MEMBERS STANDING AROUND.
Kind of hard to break up with your girlfriend while while they stick a huge camera in your face. Stage, silly, and just plain stupid, if someone wants to make a real authentic documentary about high school I say they grab a decent camera with a mic attatchment, go down to an urban, inner city L.
A. high school and start shooting. What you will see will be far more intriguing and tragic than this garbage that was praised at Sundance.
This review of American Teen (2008) was written by Rod S on 11 Feb 2010.
American Teen has generally received positive reviews.
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