Movie Info:
Writer: Nanette Burstein
Director: Nanette Burstein
Cast: Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Geoff Haase, Megan Krizmanich, Mitch Reinholt, Jake Tusing, Ali Wikalinska
Rating: PG 13
Studio: Paramount Vantage

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: October 11, 2008
DVD Release Date: December 21, 2008
Online Availability: Target

When I first heard about American Teen and how it compares to The Breakfast Club, I was a bit put off. Sure, this movie is a documentary and the latter is a fiction-based movie by John Hughes. Still, as a child of the 80s, I find it hard to believe anything made today could be as good. Sure, I get the relation of the setup to that of The Breakfast Club, but that’s where the similarities end.

It’s pretty clear that some of this documentary was staged, though the filmmaker and those involved claim it wasn’t. Still, it gets to a point where those who are involved are so used to being wired and being filmed, in this age of massive technological advances, that they start acting however they want. There is a distinct difference between those scripted moments and those non-scripted ones. In fact, the non-scripted moments give the documentary a raw edge. This documentary could have been so much more than it is.

Despite its shortcomings, American Teen isn’t so horrible that it is not worth watching, at least once. This is a pseudo-look into the life of the American Teen, though those moments that feel just very faked or perhaps forced ruin the documentary overall. I didn’t have extremely high hopes for this documentary, so I was surprised that it was better than I’d thought. That isn’t saying very much though.

The American Teen Plot
In the small, conservative town of Warsaw, Indiana, director Nanette Burstein takes the lives of five teens and documents them. Much like The Breakfast Club all of the teens chronicled in American Teen have their own cliched, expected roles. You have the Claire-esque princess (though Molly Ringwald was cooler), the Brian Johnson of the group who is a nerd/gamer, the Andrew Clark who is the jock, the wannabe John Bender aka the rebel, and the heartthrob, who doesn’t really identify with any of the BCers.

The princess, Megan Krizmanich, can best be described as a selfish little bitch. Yeah, I think that sums her up pretty nicely. All of the teens are seniors in high school, and Megan aspires to attend Notre Dame, which is a family tradition. As the popular girl on the documentary, Megan is ruthless, manipulative and downright mean. Heck, she makes Claire Standish look like a true fairy princess, and rightfully so. Kids are a lot meaner then they were back in the 80s. Megan is proof positive of that.

The rebel, Hannah Bailey, doesn’t hold a candle to John Bender. She’s not truly a rebel. Just because she’s a liberal in a town of Ann Coulter worshipers doesn’t make her a rebel. Hell, the girl has her heart broken and misses weeks of school for it. She’s more like an outcast than a rebel. I’d consider her more an Allison Reynolds than a John Bender. She even ends up dating the heartthrob, Mitch Reinholt, but he lets peer pressure get the best of him, because he’s popular and a jock. So he does the sensible thing, by breaking up with her via text message. It’s no wonder young Hannah moved to San Francisco after all of these debacles during her senior year of high school.

Colin Clemens is kind of like Andrew Clark, but only in the fact that he’s a jock with a father who is obsessed with his son’s sporting aspirations. As the star basketball player at Warsaw High, Colin feels a massive amount of pressure to get a scholarship. Otherwise, he’s looking at a stint in the military. Of course, if his father wasn’t reminding him of this every five minutes American Teen wouldn’t be the documentary that it is.

Finally, there is the biggest dork on the planet, Jake Tusing. Brian Johnson is a stud compared to the acne-faced Jake. Jake’s interests include girls, the marching band, and gaming. He’s desperate to find and keep a girlfriend. Who knows, perhaps even the dorkiest of the dorks can find love. You’ll just have to watch American Teen on your own to find out if he does.

Replayability:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
American Teen is far better than a number of low budget films that you will see, but it still comes with a small set of flaws. The movie is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it looks better than many movies in this budget thanks to the anamorphic enhancements that are included. The level of sharpness is near perfect, though there are plenty of moments where the picture just falls flat, the lighting becomes less than desirable, and the aliasing shows significant wear on the film. All in all, it’s not a bad presentation and the problems do not crop up enough to truly annoy. Still, you will notice that they are there.

The audio mix for American Teen is handled by Dolby Digital 5.1. Don’t expect anything overly amazing here. The sound is placed mainly in the front channels, which might be expected in a documentary, but it still doesn’t make for overly dramatic sound. Things sound a little better when the film looks at things like concerts, talent shows, the prom, and other school events. It works for what it is, but it’s not going to be the best mix that you ever hear.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
Where American Teen truly fails is the bonus section. Fans of the movie will be disappointed by the lack of extra bonuses here. There are a few, though nothing is particularly engrossing. They are just here and they feel thrown in and unnecessary for the most part. You receive a series of cast interviews that last four minutes. Mainly some thoughtful questions are posed to the group of five that are now getting older as they move onto their college years. Six deleted scenes are available that you can watch in a nine minute chunk or as separate scenes, if you wish to do so.

“Hannah Blogs” appears to be the longest segment with a series of ten videos that have Hannah talking about everything from love to general life. These appear to serve as a form of deleted scenes though they decided to label them as something else and make it a new special feature. It’s still basically more of the same though. This lasts for under 20 minutes and is the longest feature in the bunch,

Other than that, you can watch five separate character trailers either in a clump or on their own. Three previews are also included for Paramount movies, The Duchess, Ghost Town, and Defiance.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
If you want to check out this documentary, you should rent it. Only those who really love what American Teen has to offer are going to want to purchase this DVD. If you like The Breakfast Club you might be offended by the comparison, especially since the cast of characters in that John Hughes flick are far more interesting then the lives of the selfish, sometimes fake teens in this documentary. If you can look past the fact that it appears some of this documentary is staged, who knows, you might just like it.

Overall Rating:

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