American Teen (2008)--2/5

For all the drama on display, "American Teen" is a hollow candy shell. For one, none of this petty high school bullshit matters after graduation.* The lengths the filmmakers go to make the film seem important are baffling and, in the end, betray the subjects' trust.

The reality-show-as-documentary-film aspect is less troubling. For these teens, in the shadow of "The Hills" and other reality-dramas, camera crews and bulky mikes are assimilated easily. Everything is already half-documented, with texts, emails, digital photos. The addition of cameras makes little difference.

"American Teen" jumps around with little regard to reality. Nanette Burstein, the director, isn't even trying to be sneaky about it. In the first of many staged shots, "rebel" Hannah wakes up on the first day of school. Suddenly, basketball season is starting, which is actually months later. It would be one thing if the movie jumped around for illustrative purposes; here's Colin, he plays basketball, here he is playing basketball, etc. But the voiceover specifies, "It's the first day of school," "It's the first day of basketball season." Very stupid.

Later, at the important—although everything can be doubted at this point—sectional game, Colin sinks a dramatic three-pointer at the buzzer. The scoreboard in the background of a subsequent shot displays the not-even-close score of 50-42.

One more: At prom, that sort-of popular Does It Offend You, Yeah? song is heard. This would be okay on the soundtrack, except it's distorted to make it sound like it was captured live by the cameras. A song from 2008 in a movie filmed two years earlier.

If you know what movie you're going to make, write a script and hire actors. The worst thing to see in a documentary is forced narrative created before filming. Film first, and then see what you've got. Look at the admirable case of how "Capturing the Friedmans" came to be. In the process of making a film about birthday party entertainers, director Andrew Jarecki stumbled upon the scandalous past of one of his subjects. He decided to make a separate movie. Has anybody seen the original film, "Just a Clown?"


*Will the fact that this school year has been immortalized on video make a difference in any of these kids’ lives? Probably not; nobody saw this overhyped movie.