American Teen DVD Review

Posted by Dave Schilling on 12.21.2008

If you have ever wished that "The Hills" was set in rural Indiana, then this movie was made for you!

American Teen
Releases December 21, 2008
Paramount Vantage

It is easy to glibly say that American Teen is inauthentic. Director Nanette Burstein gives you every reason to doubt the veracity of her work. The tricks she uses would make Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock blush, and give the Maysles Brothers a heart attack. It is currently in vogue to make a documentary that looks like a fiction film, but swear up and down that your movie is pure truth. Well, as a wise man once said: "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a mediocre movie."

The Film

A Sundance darling and the object of an intense bidding war, American Teen shows itself fairly unworthy of all the attention. We are introduced to Hannah, Jake, Colin, Megan and Mitch, seniors at Warsaw Community High School in Warsaw, Indiana. The town's name is appropriate, since it looks like a former Soviet Bloc country. Most of the cast treats Warsaw as though it were, longing to escape and discover a new way to live. Hannah is the arty kid who just wants to go to San Francisco State University (my alma mater, by the way) and be a filmmaker. Jake is a pimply faced gamer with a big heart who just wants a girlfriend. Colin is a star basketball player who needs to get a scholarship in order to afford college. Megan is the "villain," the shallow blonde who schemes and plots against her friends. All she wants is to go to Notre Dame and follow in her parents' footsteps. Mitch is the "dreamy" guy who all the girls like, but seems to have no interest in anything...except awkward little Hannah.

If it all sounds trite and stereotypical, that's merely because it is. Ms. Burstein, also responsible for the far superior Robert Evans documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture has clearly gone out of her way to check all the boxes required for a successful teen angst film. The people she chose to profile all fit comfortably into the old high school stereotypes, which at the very least, allow the viewer to feel comfortable with the film early on. You know what you're going to get because it's been spoon-fed to you a million times by Hollywood.

The look of the film takes the artifice even farther. If you are like me and you are used to your documentaries being shot on grainy 16mm film or low grade video with overexposed shots and lots of focus pulling, then you are in for a shock. Every shot is well-lit. The framing always seems perfect. The camera catches things it shouldn't catch. This is the MTV version of reality, even if it actually is reality instead of the ongoing adventures of Lauren Conrad. Ms. Burstein has claimed over and over that her film is totally true to life, that there was no trickery. It's hard to swallow if you know anything about how to make a documentary, but I am willing to give her team the benefit of the doubt. Even if it's all honest, it still seems fake, which is almost as bad.

The most glaring artistic conceit is a series of bizarrely rendered CGI fantasy sequences where Ms. Burstein thought it would be a good idea to visually illustrate some awkward monologues by the kids. They are quite jarring, as the monologues sound like they were recorded during post-production due to the bland way each of the speakers sounds. Hannah's fantasy of her depression over being dumped looks like a bad appropriation of Van Gogh. Jake's is even goofier, as he imagines himself as Link in the Legend of Zelda, slaying a guy who steals his girlfriend.

It would be forgiven if the film was at all provocative or informative. I don't learn anything new that I didn't already experience in high school. If anything, it only reinforces what I knew. The kids themselves all seem nice enough and the filmmakers go out of their way to try to humanize all of them. We learn a little bit about Hannah's family problem and her fight with depression. Colin's dad is an Elvis impersonator who pushes him a little too hard. Megan had a learning impaired sister who committed suicide. These are moments of fleeting humanity. In between, you get the same old backstabbing, the requisite pining for love, the cheesy "Big Game" where your lead has to sink the game-winning basket. I was half-expecting Colin to turn into "Teen Wolf" by the end of the film. Honestly, I would have preferred watching "Teen Wolf" to this.

5.0

The Video

Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Everything here looks crisp and vivid. The picture was shot on HD cameras, so a good-looking film was a given. Contrast is pretty scant, though you can chalk that up to flat lighting. This is a sterile looking film and this transfer doesn't try to hide that.

6.5

The Sound

You get the obligatory Dolby 5.1 sound mix, though it hardly seems warranted here. This is not a wall-busting workout for you subwoofer by any means. The mix is mostly front-loaded, with things getting lively during the fantasy sequences, basketball games or when the next blaring pop song shows up. Of course, no one buying this film expects it to be a demo disc for their home theater either.

7.0

The Extras

In the oft chance you enjoy this movie, don't pine away for some mind-blowing special features to extend your viewing pleasure. Paramount Home Video totally skimped on this package. I can't blame them too much, as American Teen was an unmitigated box office failure. No Home Video department at any studio will throw more money at a film that underperformed in theaters unless it was a prestige release. Still, fans of the movie will be seriously disappointed. Worse yet, all the special features are in non-anamorphic widescreen, which is bound to annoy those of you with an HD monitor.

There's something here called "Pop Quiz: Cast Interviews," where the filmmakers catch up with the cast and ask them some really brief, surface questions. There are some perfunctory deleted scenes and there's a Play All function, in case you don't want to waste your time going back to the menu over and over again. The one bit of business that seems satisfying is the "Hannah Blogs." It seems as though Hannah ended up being the breakout star of the film (if you can label anyone in this movie a star), and fans will appreciate these extra 18 minutes of talking head footage of Hannah talking about her theories on life. You can choose Play All on these also, in case you want to hear Hannah talk about being gay for her dog without interruption. Lastly, there are 5 separate trailers for the film, each focusing on a separate character. Plus, you get trailers for Paramount releases The Duchess, Ghost Town, and Defiance.

4.0

The 411: Considering the Sundance praise and the amount of money Paramount Vantage paid to buy it, I must be the only person who saw this movie who didn't like it. This bare-bones, barely there DVD release doesn't help either, with a transfer that's nothing to write home about and a weak sound mix. This is an experience that is trite, plastic and shallow. If you think about it, that's exactly what high school is like.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]