American Teen
ALL those High School Musicals have given us a rose-tinted vision of young Americans.
American Teen offers a slightly more realistic view of the pressures and personalities in a typical high school.
Filmed over a year in Warsaw, Indiana, it follows a group of seniors as they face life-changing decisions.
We meet basketball star Colin, who needs a scholarship if he stands any chance of getting into college.
Hannah is an aspiring film-maker concerned she has inherited her mother’s manic depression.
Heartbreaker Mitch would win all the popularity contests, while creepy Jake is the classic geek; an awkward, acne-scarred kid outsider. Megan is a manipulative queen bee who lords it over them all.
Their lives are more complicated than they first seem.
Although elements of the movie appear stage managed it is still a very watchable document of everyday lives.
ALLAN'S VERDICT 3/5
(Cert 15; 95 mins)