American Teen B

PG-13, 95 Minutes, In Theatres July 25

I was lucky enough to catch Sundance winner (Best Director, Documentary, Nanette Burstein) American Teen at a local film festival. This Real World-feeling doc tells the story of five Indiana high school’ers senior year. We see their struggle in relationships, panic over college, the trouble they get into, and how they cut each other to the bone. The characters are standards from any John Hughes pic: artsy girl, band nerd, jock, uber-popular mean girl, and all-American boy. If I have one beef with the film, it’s the lack of originality in the characterization. The editing assures that we cheer exactly who we’re suppose to cheer and jeer the kids we’re suppose to hate. But, even if the editing is a bit heavy-handed, there’s something undeniably compelling about seeing the universal heartaches of real teens. If you watch it, and it’s definitely worth checking out if only for a walk down memory lane, keep an eye out for the excellent animated clips that accompany each students story. They perfectly highlight aspects of each character and provide a nice break from the (at times) monotonous stream of voice-overs and campus footage. A good if not groundbreaking documentary reminding us all of what we already knew: high school wasn’t easy for anybody. B