American Teen
Paramount Vantage | Release Date: July 25, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Shows how a documentary can be as moving and suspenseful as the best narrative feature. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The documentary American Teen is the most realistic movie you will see all summer. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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. Read full review
90
Film ThreatZack Haddad
Never has a film captured the spirit of being a teenager better. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The kids are real and their stories enthralling: When it comes to drama, there's nothing quite like high school. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
So authentic are the subjects, so raw their emotions. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott 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. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Though it could work as effectively as a television vehicle, American Teen is revealing, funny and involving. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter 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. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
As close to fraudulent as a documentary can get and still be worth seeing. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
An entertaining slice-of-life documentary that gets ever more fascinating as it moves along. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
American Teen isn't as penetrating or obviously realistic as her "On the Ropes," but Burstein has achieved an engrossing film. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Parents are another matter. Almost to a man and woman they lay expectations on their children that ignore who those children are. Read full review
70
Village VoiceElla 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. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
What makes Nanette Burstein's movie so powerful is its uncanny sense of familiarity. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Like much reality TV, sections of American Teen seem patently staged, or coached, for the camera. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The movie is entertaining on a superficial level, but there's little beneath the surface. Read full review
63
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? Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJames 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. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis Harvey
Undeniably entertaining for its zippy presentation. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)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. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.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. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The kids here do come across as genuine people, struggling with issues everyone can understand. Read full review
50
NPRBob 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. Read full review
50
New York PostLou 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. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMichael Ordona
Here are casual cruelty, crushing heartbreak and pressure from parents and peers, all of which can involve the viewer but are nothing revelatory. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.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. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Unsurprisingly, the formulaic "Breakfast Club" casting yields a formulaic narrative. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarjorie 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. Read full review
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