Review of American Teen (2008) by Andrew T — 05 Dec 2008

My first reaction was this was "almost perfectly done": they went looking for stereotypes, found them, and crafted their *real* stories into a compelling movie. But. There's been a lot of discussion about how fake, scripted, staged, or reenacted things were.

The conclusion seems to be that most events were real although many scenes were re-enacted, which is a little lame but understandable (and in the end may have helped the film by allowing them to get the photography and editing right).

It's possible that some events (particularly Mitch and Hannah's "storyline") were more prompted and forced, although reports differ. That would be extra lame. But the fact is when all is said and done, these are not professional actors, and for the most part what they went through actually happened, and watching it you are moved and entertained.

In the end, even if it *was* entirely fake and performed by actors, it still FELT more real than any other teen movie I can think of, so what difference does it make? You can resent the deception if you like, but one way or another I found real/istic stories to appreciate.