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- 2019
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 33 m
- 2019
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 33 m
Summary Violet (Elle Fanning) is a shy teenager who dreams of escaping her small town and pursuing her passion to sing. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a local singing competition that will test her integrity, talent and ambition.
Directed By: Max Minghella
- 2019
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 33 m
- 2019
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 33 m
Teen Spirit
57
5.5
Where to Watch
Summary Violet (Elle Fanning) is a shy teenager who dreams of escaping her small town and pursuing her passion to sing. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a local singing competition that will test her integrity, talent and ambition.
Directed By: Max Minghella
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
57
33% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
63% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
4% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
57
33% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
63% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
4% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Minghella’s incredible directorial debut is a technicolor, neon-drenched fever dream. It is told with remarkable visual prowess, jaw-dropping editing, a soundtrack to die for, career-best performances from its central cast, and most importantly, heart. This is not to be missed.
Minghella, to his credit, makes it an entertaining ride even when we see where it’s going, and Fanning turns out to be a terrific singer well suited to the alternative-rock playlist she’s given.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 24 User Ratings
5.5
33% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
54% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
13% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 24 User Ratings
5.5
33% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
54% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
13% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Predictable to the bone and too sweetened. The story is built that way and cannot help it but still.
Considering that it's a directorial debut it is understood, however, the proposal doesn't really compensate and almost all the music is quite forgettable, which is a serious flaw considering that this aspect is a cornerstone of the narrative.
Elle Fanning complies but I still maintain my opinion that she should look for more solid jobs. It's good that she continues to work on so many indie films but she needs better roles.
It's not a ''bad' film but it could have been much better.
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This won't be the best movie audiences will ever see, but at least it's fun to watch with pretty visuals and upbeat songs.
Minghella’s directorial debut is awash with mean girls, pretty boys, seizure-inducing club scenes, headache-inducing auto-tune, and a thin plot that unfolds (and ends) dizzyingly quickly.
Very like a gummy bear, Teen Spirit gives you a nice little sugar rush until the lights come up and you realize you’re still hungry. Part of the problem is the script, which includes lines of dialogue so generic it’s as if Minghella is daring himself to squeeze a drop more juice out of them.
Teen Spirit is too tidy, concocted, and safe. It longs to channel the high of great pop, but as a movie it lacks the ecstatic imagination to do what great pop does. It never soars.
Teen Spirit is a dizzying exercise in the "Bohemian Rhapsody" school of nonsensical editing. Perhaps it is fitting that Teen Spirit is badly made. It would be more disappointing if a work of such lazy sexism were a formal triumph.
(Mauro Lanari)
Who the most disliked, Elle or her sister Dakota, Max or his father Anthony? The real contest is this, an anti-talent show. The intergenerational pact sketch between two losers could have been intriguing, but the film ruins it as much as a "The Neon Demon" (Refn 2016) hybridized with "A Star Is Born" (Cooper 2018).
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Elle Fanning plays a continuously-sullen teen who enters a national singing competition in England. Her story isn't especially interesting, even with the addition of a faded opera singer as her manager/mentor. She does a good job with the vocals, but the relationships and evolution of her quick rise are rather flat and uninteresting (most of that credit has to go to writer/director Max Minghella). The weirdest thing was that the big final show is moodily lit, which makes it almost impossible to see the singers' faces…not realistic for TV at all. The pop tunes and music production was the most enjoyable thing about the film.
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What a complete pile of predictable, cliche'd rubbish. Nothing unpredictable, nothing interesting, just one boring predictable scene after the other. The acting was good, but that's it. The script and plot are without depth, without tension, without anything of substance. Luckily I had my laptop to help me survive this. I only sat through it because I was watching with my teenage niece. When the movie ended, she said WHAT? What? Is that it?? I gave her a wry smile. What a waste of time.
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Production Company
Mister Smith Entertainment,
Head Gear Films,
Metrol Technology,
Blank Tape,
Automatik Entertainment,
Aperture Media Partners,
Interscope Films,
LD Entertainment
Release Date Apr 12, 2019
Duration 1 h 33 m
Rating PG-13
Awards
Cleveland International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Golden Trailer Awards
• 1 Nomination
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards
• 1 Nomination
