“The Jock; The Geek; The Rebel; The Princess; The Heartthrob—Who
were you?” ask the trailers for American Teen, a doc that
follows the senior year of five students from basketball-lovin’ Warsaw,
Indiana. (Apparently, there are only five types of teens in America.)
In theory, director Nanette Burstein is relying on high school cliches
because she wants to debunk them—-thus, we learn that “jock” Colin
has an Elvis-impersonator dad, and that rich bitch Megan is dealing
with her sister’s suicide. Some neat, surprising movie-moments result,
most of them involving awkward band-dork Jake, who spends most of the
doc embodying his “geek” label (making small talk with a potential love
interest who’s sweaty after “her game,” Jake awesomely shares “I took a
shower today and then did almost nothing, so I’m kind of just the
opposite,”) then randomly embarks on a debauchery-filled weekend in San
Diego with his big brother. But there’s lots of boring
stereotype-fulfillment, too—Megan and her friends label one of their
own a slut and harass her; Jake whines about girls’ lack of interest;
free-spirited artist Hannah wants to leave her small town behind.
Probing stereotypes is admirable—but if doing so is your goal, why
spend half a film predictably perpetuating them? Lindsay McCarney
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2009.