American Teen Critic Reviews

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 the full review

Though it could work as effectively as a television vehicle, American Teen is revealing, funny and involving.Read the full review

Undeniably entertaining for its zippy presentation.Read the full review

What makes Nanette Burstein's movie so powerful is its uncanny sense of familiarity.Read the full review

The movie is entertaining on a superficial level, but there's little beneath the surface.Read the full review

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 the full review

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 the full review

Here are casual cruelty, crushing heartbreak and pressure from parents and peers, all of which can involve the viewer but are nothing revelatory.Read the full review

Shows how a documentary can be as moving and suspenseful as the best narrative feature.Read the full review