Review of American Teen (2008) by Christopher G — 24 Mar 2010

I don't remember who, or what recommended this movie to me but it was a surprisingly well done documentary on High School done with an ensemble "Breakfast Club" style cast. I kind of wanted to hate it when I started watching it, but it really won me over. No doubt there's a lot of artistic license taken with the subjects and the situations, one being a hilarious mistake where they show a SOMEHOW game winning 3 pointer (meanwhile the goal board shows 32 to 40...), but it helps keep the pace up.

The cast was fantastic. With one or two exceptions, I loved or hated each member. The fact that the director could elicit such strong emotions over real people is a real testament to how she portrayed them. As much as I loved Hannah the non-conformist girl, I HATED MEGA KRIZMANICH WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING! Every word she spoke had me literally screaming aloud how much I hated her, then I'd turn around and actually laugh out loud at the antics of Jake the out of sorts geek.

In the end, I think it just goes to show how hard it is to write fictional teens as stupid, lovable, nefarious, and crazy as they really are.