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49
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36
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47
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71
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70
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93
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27
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47
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93
WALL-E
82
Dark Knight, The
73
Kung Fu Panda
72
Ghost Town
71
Tropic Thunder
70
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
62
Burn After Reading
60
Traitor
58
Express, The
58
City of Ember
58
Body of Lies
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
Flash of Genius
55
House Bunny, The
54
Quarantine
54
Get Smart
53
Rocker, The
53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Family That Preys, The
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
Lakeview Terrace
45
Blindness
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
43
Eagle Eye
41
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
15
Disaster Movie
15
College
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

xx
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53
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55
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xx
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56
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50
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61
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43
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62
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85
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26
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xx
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xx
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89
Man on Wire
86
Momma's Man
85
Edge of Heaven, The
84
Up the Yangtze
83
U2 3D
83
Trouble the Water
82
Happy-Go-Lucky
82
Tell No One
82
Frozen River
82
Rachel Getting Married
81
Ballast
80
Encounters at the End of the World
80
Moving Midway
79
Visitor, The
78
Last Mistress, The
76
Pool, The
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
73
Obscene
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Secret, A
72
Transsiberian
72
I Served the King of England
71
I.O.U.S. A
68
August Evening
68
Ashes of Time Redux
66
Elegy
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
65
Flow: For Love of Water
64
Fall, The
64
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
63
Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
63
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63
Appaloosa
63
Man Named Pearl, A
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Kabluey
62
Duchess, The
62
Mister Foe
62
Baghead
61
Wackness, The
61
Brick Lane
57
Towelhead
57
Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, The
57
Sixty Six
57
RocknRolla
56
Bottle Shock
55
Save Me
55
Religulous
55
Battle in Seattle
55
Ping Pong Playa
53
Humboldt County
53
Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
53
Nights and Weekends
52
Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
51
Good Dick
50
Breakfast with Scot
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
Choke
45
Shoot on Sight
44
Henry Poole is Here
43
Choose Connor
41
Cthulhu
40
Igor
37
Forever Strong
31
Hounddog
28
Fireproof
26
Everybody Wants to Be Italian
xx
Phoebe in Wonderland
xx
All of Us
xx
Whaledreamers
xx
W.
xx
Billy: The Early Years
xx
Call and Response
xx
Just Buried
xx
Beer for My Horses
xx
Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
American Teen
Paramount Vantage
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some strong language, sexual material, some drinking and brief smoking-all involving teens
Starring
Hannah Bailey,
Colin Clemens,
Megan Krizmanich,
Mitch Reinholt,
and
Jake Tusing
AMERICAN TEEN is the touching and hilarious Sundance hit that follows the lives of four teenagers - a jock, a popular girl, a heartthrob, an artsy girl and a geek – in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school. We see the insecurities, the cliques, the jealousies, the first loves and heartbreaks, and the struggle to make profound decisions about the future. (Paramount Vantage)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Nanette Burstein
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Nanette Burstein
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: July 25, 2008
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
95 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Shows how a documentary can be as moving and suspenseful as the best narrative feature.

100
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The documentary American Teen is the most realistic movie you will see all summer.

91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa 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.

90
Film Threat
Zack Haddad
Never has a film captured the spirit of being a teenager better.

88
TV Guide
Ken Fox
The kids are real and their stories enthralling: When it comes to drama, there's nothing quite like high school.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
So authentic are the subjects, so raw their emotions.

83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott 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.

75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Though it could work as effectively as a television vehicle, American Teen is revealing, funny and involving.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter 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.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
An entertaining slice-of-life documentary that gets ever more fascinating as it moves along.

75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Parents are another matter. Almost to a man and woman they lay expectations on their children that ignore who those children are.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
American Teen isn't as penetrating or obviously realistic as her "On the Ropes," but Burstein has achieved an engrossing film.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
As close to fraudulent as a documentary can get and still be worth seeing.

70
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
What makes Nanette Burstein's movie so powerful is its uncanny sense of familiarity.

70
Village Voice
Ella 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.

67
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
Like much reality TV, sections of American Teen seem patently staged, or coached, for the camera.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The movie is entertaining on a superficial level, but there's little beneath the surface.

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?

60
The New York Times
A.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.

60
The Hollywood Reporter
James 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.

60
Variety
Dennis Harvey
Undeniably entertaining for its zippy presentation.

60
New York Magazine
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.

60
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
The kids here do come across as genuine people, struggling with issues everyone can understand.

50
Los Angeles Times
Michael Ordona
Here are casual cruelty, crushing heartbreak and pressure from parents and peers, all of which can involve the viewer but are nothing revelatory.

50
New York Post
Lou 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.

50
NPR
Bob 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.

50
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
Unsurprisingly, the formulaic "Breakfast Club" casting yields a formulaic narrative.

50
Chicago Reader
J.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.

20
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie 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.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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