.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

A hit at Sundance this year the documentary American Teen hits theatres right when big summer films usually start to simmer down having been in our local theatres for a few weeks. And the timing couldn't be better.

American Teen is a documentary that plays like a reality television show (that is both good and bad) that follows the lives of four separate teenagers - Hannah, Colin, Jake and Megan - as they live out their rollercoaster ride that is High School and budding adulthood.

The four individuals profiled are a perfect slice of youth that is sure to cover all stereotypical cliques. Hannah is the good girl, Colin the jock, Jake the geek and Megan, well, she's a bitch. All are as interesting as anything you have seen on television and all are characters that you can both relate to or can cheer for no matter how callous or shallow these inexperienced youths tend of be.

Filmmaker Nanette Burstein does a bang up job of having us really care for these characters. She also does the time warp thing by transporting us (even an old fart like me) back into the shiny waxed floor hallways of High School where we can reminisce about how each of the four profiles on screen are exactly like people we haven't spoken to or thought of in decades.

Telling you any details about the characters would be like letting you know who got voted off Survivor before you had a chance to watch it. Just be assured that there are pains, love, defiance, adventure and the struggle to both fit in and determine an adult future. Whether it's trouble with the law, a risqué picture of a classmate broadcast to more than the sender had intended or a son trying to win the respect of his father, American Teen has a little bit of everything amounting to a whole lot of humor and insight into today's teen.

Unfortunately, Burstein gives equal time to each of the four but its Megan and Jake that are the real interest stories here. Watching Hannah's heartbreak was gut wrenching and Jake's attempts of finding a girl is akin to Don Quixote chasing windmills. Sure, Megan's antics were not exactly time filler, but I couldn't help but think that she was playing to the camera more than the others that were stripped down to their naked core.

American Teen might not be an exceptional documentary, but it is a worthy one and one which I was glad to experience.