As the name suggests, this film is about that enigmatic icon of the youthful vigour of the United States of America: the American teen. A documentary shot in a High School in the Mid-West, the film charts the senior year highs and lows of several youngsters as they go through that much mythologised time in their lives.

As a documentary this film had great potential. Glossy dramas and carbon-copy teen comedies have turned the teenagers of the US into 2-D stereotypes whose actions fall within easily-defined dichotomies: the jock and the nerd and the cheerleader and the band girls, both recently supplemented by the indie empowered quirky/individualistic outsider (who may or may not have mental health issues, depending on the political leanings of the director) who opposes the thoughtless drones of the school.

American Teen starts out with great promise too, as it introduces a few of the kids who seem to slightly confound these stereotypes. Ostensibly 'quirky' kid Hannah is in a long-term relationship and is concerned about as much normal stuff as any of the others and 'jock' Colin is generally well-liked and seems not to terrorise the nerds too much, for example. What's more, the abstract and confusing nature of the problems faced by these people was occasionally encapsulated in interesting, moving and clever animations emerging from inside the tortured teens. These short pieces did more to coney their feelings than any of the standard 90-minute capers we usually see ever could.

However, from here things begin to go bad. First, signs of creative editing creep in. Hair changes lengths erratically, basketball scorelines are inconsistent, and some plot developments are just a little too convenient. What's more, the kids begin playing up to standard stereotypes. The geek gets geekier, quirky Hannah does more silly things, and rich bitch cheerleader Megan gets more mean and exclusive. What's more, events that reek of imposed 'twists' begin to occur with alarming regularity.

You see where I'm going with this. The bottom line is that this is the work of a documentarist who has been Michael Moore-ified. The inherent belief of the filmmaker is that it is (or at least seems) more real if you use the 'real world' when in actual fact a faked story will seem faked whether it's staged with professional actors or handpicked children from a Mid-Western High School. By failing to realise this fact Nanette Burstein has come painfully close to merely producing another lame High School drama that it was her original intention to avoid.

It's all very entertaining, and it does have flashes of insight and originality, but American Teen is really just another teen drama. More for fans of schlock reality TV or The Breakfast Club nostalgia-monkies than for documentary lovers.

 

Want more? Read our American Teen DVD review here.

 

Starring: Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Geoff Haase, Megan Krizmanich, Mitch Reinholt
Directed by: Nanette Burnstein
Rating: UK 15 | US PG-13
Release date: Out now

Rating: 2 stars

Review by Michael Edwards