American Teen Hits Home In A Big Way

Saw American Teen last night at The Sundance Institute at BAM. Great flick. It's a solid documentary that feels very real and quickly builds a strong connection between the viewer and the subjects. Unlike a lot of fictional teenage flicks, this one didn't lead to reminiscing about life in high school. Instead, I found myself directly relating to these kids as an adult. While I'm not sure that this was "the message" of the film, I left the theater feeling like we're not so different.

There were a few flourishes that were totally unnecessary. They added nothing to the film, but they didn't really detract from it either. In fact, I didn't really think much about them until discussing the film later in the evening. Despite a few minor flaws, it's hard to think of this film as anything other than a resounding success. I hope people go out and see it when it hits the theaters at the end of July.