Review of American Teen (2008) by Aaron B — 09 Aug 2008

I enjoyed this -- the characters were engaging and you really felt the pain of their disappointments. At the same time, I had the feeling of watching a reality TV show, where the director is essentially making the students into characters and selectively choosing (or recreating) scenes that make them exemplars of some of the high school archetypes.

I know that the real people must have been more complicated, but the film didn't really show us that, instead favoring a one-dimensional characterization of them.