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American Teen
Paramount Vantage


7.3

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
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Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some strong language, sexual material, some drinking and brief smoking-all involving teens

Starring Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Megan Krizmanich, Mitch Reinholt, and Jake Tusing

AMERICAN TEEN is the touching and hilarious Sundance hit that follows the lives of four teenagers - a jock, a popular girl, a heartthrob, an artsy girl and a geek – in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school. We see the insecurities, the cliques, the jealousies, the first loves and heartbreaks, and the struggle to make profound decisions about the future. (Paramount Vantage)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
WRITTEN BY:	Nanette Burstein
DIRECTED BY:	Nanette Burstein
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: July 25, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	95 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Shows how a documentary can be as moving and suspenseful as the best narrative feature.

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The documentary American Teen is the most realistic movie you will see all summer.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The players are timelessly familiar in American Teen, too. But filmmaker Nanette Burstein tells their stories with a distinctly 21st-century pop and audacity.

Film Threat Zack Haddad

Never has a film captured the spirit of being a teenager better.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The kids are real and their stories enthralling: When it comes to drama, there's nothing quite like high school.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

So authentic are the subjects, so raw their emotions.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Though it's compelling enough as soap opera, American Teen digs deeply into why kids grudgingly accept the roles they've been given and the brutal consequences that come with straying outside the lines.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Though it could work as effectively as a television vehicle, American Teen is revealing, funny and involving.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Reality tv, welcome to the multiplex. If "The Hills" went back to high school and developed wit, perception and a conscience, it might play something like Nanette Burstein's wallop of a doc.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

An entertaining slice-of-life documentary that gets ever more fascinating as it moves along.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Parents are another matter. Almost to a man and woman they lay expectations on their children that ignore who those children are.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

American Teen isn't as penetrating or obviously realistic as her "On the Ropes," but Burstein has achieved an engrossing film.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

As close to fraudulent as a documentary can get and still be worth seeing.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

What makes Nanette Burstein's movie so powerful is its uncanny sense of familiarity.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Even when it's ripping off "Juno" and "The Hills," American Teen is fascinating in the way of every good documentary--the more time you spend with anyone, the more they surprise you.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Like much reality TV, sections of American Teen seem patently staged, or coached, for the camera.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The movie is entertaining on a superficial level, but there's little beneath the surface.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

So is the result just a case of life imitating pop art, or has the director shaped the footage to enhance the imitation?

The New York Times A.O. Scott

This is the kind of movie the people in it might have made, which means that its revelatory power as an investigation of teenage life in America is limited.

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

For all of its access and exposure, American Teen seems skin-deep. It's well shot, with good production values and lots of cool music. But it's fun and facile in much the same way reality TV is.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Undeniably entertaining for its zippy presentation.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The movie does get under your skin (the tremulous misfit girl, Hannah, might be a breakout role model), but the way it has been put together reminds me of those animal shows where the crew nudges the gazelles in the direction of the lions with multiple cameras standing by.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The kids here do come across as genuine people, struggling with issues everyone can understand.

Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona

Here are casual cruelty, crushing heartbreak and pressure from parents and peers, all of which can involve the viewer but are nothing revelatory.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The poster art for Nanette Burstein's American Teen, which follows five students through their senior year at a high school in Indiana, is modeled after the one for "The Breakfast Club." So, to a large extent, is this ultra-slick and predictable documentary.

NPR Bob Mondello

The students all say and do more than they should in the filmmaker's presence, which certainly makes them watchable -- sort of a slow-motion train wreck.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Unsurprisingly, the formulaic "Breakfast Club" casting yields a formulaic narrative.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This being senior year, Burstein can't help but capture some genuine drama, but there's a stage-managed quality to the movie that reminded me of MTV reality shows.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

At times it's almost like "Lord of the Flies," with the camera serving as the flypaper dipped in the honey of the promised land of celebrity.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Anthony K. gave it a5:
Not good, not good at all. Were it not a (completely scripted) "documentary", this would be the most unremarkable film of the year. As it stands, it's still pretty unremarkable. Don't waste your time.

Jay H. gave it a7:
Fascinating documentary, and gives a very insightful look at American teenagers. It makes you think and you do care about the teens in the story. I do question the sincerity, it seems a little odd that these teens do some of the things they do on camera, particularly acts of vandalism.

Dale M gave it a5:
This movie claims to be a documentary but felt contrived. Are we supposed to imagine these people don't notice the camera? Are they hamming it up as they do in reality TV or are they rehashing the past or are they reading from a script? The characters come off all too often as stereotypes. Take away the idea that the film is a documentary and you are left with a boring and failed attempt to be American Graffiti for the present decade.

Marc D. gave it a9:
It's amazing how the whole Hannah & Mitch storyline was mirrored the Andie & Blaine storyline from Pretty in Pink. Except not even Blaine would do what Mitch did.

Preston Melbourne-W. gave it an8:
Though I am about to embark on my senior year, and this at times seemed more like watching a mirror than a movie screen, i found the film entertaining and well done. Some scenes seemed like they could have been staged, but all-in-all, it felt real. Teens, coming from one, can be nasty, and this film is in no way shy about that. We can also be sweet, intelligent, and lovable, all aspects that are shown. I hope that this movie can get us teens a little more credit for what we're going through by reminding adults what a hellish time being in high school can be. That being said, I recommend this film.

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American Teen Paramount Vantage

American Teen
Paramount Vantage