A blatantly direct pastiche of The Breakfast Club, if not The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.
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09/22/08
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American Teen (2008)
69 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 101
Fresh: 70
Rotten:31
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Consensus: American Teen skates some thin ice with its documentary ethics but, in the end, presents a charming and stylish (if packaged) tale.
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Synopsis: American Teen is the touching and hilarious Sundance hit that follows the lives of four teenagers - a jock, the popular girl, the artsy girl and the geek – in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school. We see the... [More]
Director: Nanette Burstein
Reviews for American Teen
We were on the edges of our seats, willing Jake not to ruin this moment with the girl, hoping Megan realizes her mistake, urging Hannah out of the car, cheering Colin's game, nurturing Mitch's discovery of just being yourself. It is a visceral ride throu
09/08/08
A doctored snapshot that nails the angst, hope and spirit of an emerging generation.
09/04/08
Burstein's goal was to film an authentic senior year of high school. Instead she showed that it's almost an impossibility.
08/27/08
See this film to relive those high school days that you have tried to forget. Or, just talk to your kids.
08/25/08
While Nanette Burstein's naturalistic approach is admirable, the results are stereotypical, capturing a feeling of authenticity despite some obvious staging.
08/16/08
One might wish for a bit more variety among the profiled students, or that the students themselves didn't seem influenced by The Hills and other quasi-reality TV, but Burstein gets a lot out of what she has.
08/15/08
It's a painful reminder of the clique-ishness and resulting socially awkward atmosphere of public-school education.
08/15/08
American Teen leaves you feeling like you spent an hour and a half in a time machine. You've been there, seen that and lived through it already.
08/15/08
At first, it seems 'American Teen' might patronize its subjects, but in fact Burstein treats everyone with sympathy...
08/15/08
From self-congratulation and cruelty to self-pity and miserablism, the film prizes prima donna behavior and good looks.
08/14/08
As a movie character, [Hannah's] a keeper; if she didn't really exist, Diablo Cody would probably have to create her.
08/13/08
Even as you watch, though, you begin to wonder how much is real life and how much of what you see was "staged" because the teens knew a camera was watching.
08/10/08
The whirl of hormones, high hopes and hysterical drama that is high school earns its close-up in American Teen, a smart and revealing look at the Class of 2006 in Warsaw, Indiana.
08/08/08
Its subjects blandly keep your attention in almost the exact same way that reality-show contestants keep your attention.
08/08/08
There are many times when you simply can’t believe you’ve eavesdropped on such personal moments. The triumphs and pains of teenage life are captured here in all their marvelous, maddening complexity.
08/08/08
It's just as keen as Breaking Away at making socioeconomic distinctions, and its best characters are equally defiant at resisting attempts to nail them down or put them in their place.
08/08/08
What her cameras capture shouldn’t be construed as truth but rather as scenarios that were cast in stone long before she came on the scene.
08/08/08
Latest News for American Teen
July 24, 2008:
Critics Consensus: File The X-Files Under "Disappointing"
This week at the movies, we learn that the truth is out there (The X-Files: I Want to Believe, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) and that step-sibling rivalry can be... More...
July 17, 2008:
Paramount's American Teen Marketing Raises Eyebrows 
How do you market a documentary in a year when documentaries are getting clobbered at the box office? For Paramount Vantage and American Teen, the answer seems to be "pretend it... More...
May 06, 2008:
American Teen (2008): Teen trailer
More...
April 13, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
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Related Forums for American Teen
(2008/Docu)-Nanette Burstein's AMERICAN TEEN, from Sundance to theaters on July 25th!
by: ReelReviewer.com 7/30
by: ReelReviewer.com 7/30
good drama
by: bigAO 7/14
by: bigAO 7/14
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