Teen is straight out of central casting

BY JOHN ANDERSON | Special to Newsday

6:42 PM EDT, July 23, 2008

As we all know by now, the only real Americans live between the Rockies and the western border of Pennsylvania, so in her efforts to capture the real lives of typical teens, director Nanette Burstein naturally went to Indiana.

She could just as easily have gone to Central Casting. None of her subjects -- the jock, the nerd, the artsy girl, the stuck-up witch -- can help being what or who they are, one supposes. But they're all acting for the camera; Burstein's camera always seems to be in the room when someone gets a devastating e-mail; the sense of orchestration is all over the movie.

Nothing is revealed here, save for the sad fact that while young people's appetite for nonfiction film was supposed to be whetted by reality television, nonfiction film instead has turned into reality television.

That the poster for "American Teen" is an homage to "The Breakfast Club" says it all.

PLOT: A year in the life of midwestern high school seniors, each of whom fits a cliche all his/her own
CAST: Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Megan Krizmanich, Jake Tusing, Mitch Reinholt
BOTTOM LINE: Funny, but you won't believe a word of it.