"It keeps assuring us that all is basically well."- East Bay Express
"It pains me to say it, but as far as I can see it's an extended and slightly better crafted example of those fake 'reality TV' shows."- What Culture
"American Teen follows the zeitgeist of documentary filmmaking, where truth is manipulated in order to create an entertaining film, which it no doubt is. Yet the question of its authenticity will linger in the minds of some viewers. "- Matt's Movie Reviews
"An intriguing look -- alternately funny and heartbreaking -- inside the heads of today's teens."- Times-Picayune
"In contrast to other recent documentaries about coming of age in America, American Teen seems somewhat simplistic, perhaps naive."- About.com
"An addictive documentary that'll have you cheering and crying, then waiting for the director to jump out from behind your sofa and say it was all a big joke."- Film4
"The tears and laughter are genuine enough, but Berstein's orchestrations make her less of a fly on the wall than a fly in the ointment."- Sky Movies
""Although elements of the movie appear stage managed it is still a very watchable document of everyday lives."- Daily Express
"This absorbing doc is a funny, heartbreaking reminder that we're all wounded survivors of the original war zone."- The London Paper
"Compelling but not especially insightful, this is like watching nine months worth of reality TV in an hour and a half. Parental discretion is advised: if you have teens, this won't cheer you up."- Total Film
"Despite its flashy approach, American Teen remains emotionally involving because of the lives on show. You will care about these people, even if you suspect the director doesn't."- Empire Magazine
"It's a lightly amusing film but it's also an unchallenging one which reinforces presumptions about kids rather than surprising with new insights. It floats in the shallow end of filmmaking."- Time Out
" The documentary curriculum is sex, gossip and self-pity. Not exactly original, but disturbingly true.'- Times UK
"This film was for me marred by the persistent suspicion that the director wasn't being entirely straight with us."- Guardian UK
"What makes American Teen so compelling is the way the four are presented. At first they seem like stock stereotypes, but over the course of the movie, we gain a powerful insight into what makes them tick."- Daily Mirror
"Imagine High School Musical 3 without the singing, dancing or perfect teeth."- Sun Online
"It is medium-mesmerising, even if we are gnawed by secret shame at watching a glorified reality TV show."- Financial Times
"At times it looks rather staged for camera, in the manner of reality television, but there's a lot more to like and enjoy here than you might suppose."- Independent
"Burstein orchestrates their passage through school with some sympathy and no real revelations - except for the fact that she guesses, probably correctly, that most teenagers are nothing like as dangerous and bolshie as a lot of adults believe."- This is London
"A hugely enjoyable documentary with likeable characters and familiar, but no less compelling storylines, though you do wonder just how much of it was staged for the cameras."- View London
"What it might lack in plausibility, it makes up for with charm, laughs and an optimistic ending."- News of the World
"She shoehorns their personal details into predictable teen movie narrative arcs, draining any life out of them in the process and turning them into annoying caricatures. narrative arcs, draining any life out of them in the process and turni"- Scotsman
"While compelling and nostalgic, American Teen is also like high school because it's hard to sort out the pure motives of the film"- 7M Pictures
"dieisdytikotero ap' o,ti tha perimenes na prokypsei apo ena systima parakoloythisis mias pragmatikotitas poy tha perimenes na min tis aresei idiaitera na ektithetai se tetoio bathmo"- Movies for the Masses
"American Teen presents itself as getting inside the lives of America's current youth culture. But the very idea of individuality is lost because it doesn't go deep enough into the lives of its subjects to fully convey the idea."- Movie Views
"Damn, I really do not miss high school."- Themoviereport.com
"Doesn't take full advantage of the opportunity offered by a year-long glimpse into young lives. One is left to wonder what Errol Morris would have done with the challenge."- Apollo Guide
"...has its heart in the right place, but I don't think it breaks any new ground exploring the teen years."- Movie Metropolis
"Presents a neat and compact overview of youth under pressure to conform, perform and mature."- Daily Telegraph
"Either one of the most intimate and revealing documentaries ever made about the trials and tribulations of being a teenager in America or a clever fraud."- Sydney Morning Herald
"Written and directed by Nanette Burstein, it's like an intricate and many-layered slice of reality television transferred to the big screen, by turns funny, sad, painful, embarrassing, crude and strangely moving."- The Australian
" My only gripe is that the relentless pressure to be a winner in American culture is exhausting to watch."- MovieTime, ABC Radio National
"Several remarkable sequences illustrate just how oblivious some teens can be to the fact they are being recorded."- The Age
"The movie has a rare, geeky generosity -- a braces-laden, acne-scared adorableness -- that sets it apart from the current crop of glamorised gossip girls or reality-TV phonies."- Time Out Sydney
"Despite its genuinely seductive veneer, American Teen doesn't have anything to say about the adolescent condition that American Graffiti didn't already cover off in 1973."- Filmink
""A surprising film, and quite an impressive one."- At The Movies
"While the filmmaker constructs the film with verve and genuine cinematic flair, there are not enough surprises, not enough unexpected insights, to grab onto as we lurch from one scene to the next"- Urban Cinefile
"American Teen does its job: It invites us into the lives of people we wouldn't ordinarily meet or, maybe, care about."- St. Paul Pioneer
"Burstein could be faulted for occasionally staging her 'plot points,' but she can't be accused of making anything but a riveting piece of film."- San Diego Metropolitan
"A blatantly direct pastiche of The Breakfast Club, if not The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2."- UGO
"We were on the edges of our seats, willing Jake not to ruin this moment with the girl, hoping Megan realizes her mistake, urging Hannah out of the car, cheering Colin's game, nurturing Mitch's discovery of just being yourself. It is a visceral ride throu"- Cinera
"A doctored snapshot that nails the angst, hope and spirit of an emerging generation."- Arizona Daily Star
"Burstein's goal was to film an authentic senior year of high school. Instead she showed that it's almost an impossibility."- The Scorecard Review
"See this film to relive those high school days that you have tried to forget. Or, just talk to your kids."- Monsters & Critics
"It's diverting if you don't mind the pretense, or if you believe everything you see at the movies."- Sacramento News & Reviews
"While Nanette Burstein's naturalistic approach is admirable, the results are stereotypical, capturing a feeling of authenticity despite some obvious staging."- SSG Syndicate"
"It's a painful reminder of the clique-ishness and resulting socially awkward atmosphere of public-school education."- Deseret News, Salt Lake City
"American Teen leaves you feeling like you spent an hour and a half in a time machine. You've been there, seen that and lived through it already."- Charlotte Observer
"At first, it seems 'American Teen' might patronize its subjects, but in fact Burstein treats everyone with sympathy..."- Commercial Appeal
"From self-congratulation and cruelty to self-pity and miserablism, the film prizes prima donna behavior and good looks."- Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus
"As a movie character, [Hannah's] a keeper; if she didn't really exist, Diablo Cody would probably have to create her."- Creative Loafing
"Even as you watch, though, you begin to wonder how much is real life and how much of what you see was "staged" because the teens knew a camera was watching."- Journal & Courier
"The whirl of hormones, high hopes and hysterical drama that is high school earns its close-up in American Teen, a smart and revealing look at the Class of 2006 in Warsaw, Indiana."- Orlando Sentinel
"Its subjects blandly keep your attention in almost the exact same way that reality-show contestants keep your attention."- Oregonian
"They all have their stories tell, some more complicated than others."- Houston Chronicle
"It's just as keen as Breaking Away at making socioeconomic distinctions, and its best characters are equally defiant at resisting attempts to nail them down or put them in their place."- Baltimore Sun
"What her cameras capture shouldn't be construed as truth but rather as scenarios that were cast in stone long before she came on the scene."- Austin Chronicle
"Teenagers are restless and get very worked up over interpersonal dramas. Gee willickers, I'm sure glad a film crew traveled all the way to north central Indiana to make that shocking discovery."- Atagony & Ecstacy
"There's an old saying about show business being "high school with money". In the new documentary American Teen, there's an expressed feeling that high school is show business without a safety net."- HollywoodChicago.com
"At times it feels as though we're watching a scripted movie with paid actors instead of "real" kids, but that doesn't prevent the audience from becoming emotionally invested in each of their plights."- Kaplan v. Kaplan
"Burstein either isn't aware of or has made a conscious decision to ignore the very "non-fiction" filmmaking that her subjects and their peers are likely most exposed to."- SpoutBlog
"After seeing lots of Hollywood teen comedy/dramas that just can't capture what High School is really like, along comes this involving and truthful Documentary to bring us back to reality."- Sin Magazine
"You feel the students' relief when they graduate -- and breathe easier remembering that that chapter of your life is over as well."- Let's not Listen
"A moving and engrossing slice-of-life documentary about teen life in small-town Warsaw, Ind."- Toronto Star
"Eventually Burstein moves past these objections and slips under your skin."- Seattle Times
"Faux-doc or not, Burstein's film is funny and engaging, and it gives us an amazing intimacy and identification with these characters as it skillfully strips away the layers of their cliched teenage stereotypes to reveal the true person beneath."- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"American Teen shows how a documentary can be as moving and suspenseful as the best narrative feature."- San Francisco Chronicle
"This is an odd little film that really sneaks up on you, packing a much bigger emotional punch than you'd anticipate."- Jam Movies
"American Teen is The Breakfast Club in real time."- Dallas Morning News
"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."- Chicago Reader
"Consciously or not, the movie's about the way we structure our lives as drama if we want them to have any meaning at all."- Boston Globe
"Performing has become such an integral part of America's YouTube experience that people no longer seem capable of appearing authentic while on camera."- LarsenOnFilm
"Who needs fiction when the truth is funnier, richer and far more moving?!"- Colorado Springs Gazette
"The doc seems a bit imitative itself, aping the slick manners of its poor cousin on the small screen -- reality TV."- Globe and Mail
"American Teen isn't as penetrating or obviously realistic as her On the Ropes, but Burstein (who won best director at Sundance 2008) has achieved an engrossing film."- Chicago Sun Times
"Director Nanette Burstein created real movie magic by making a documentary that actually flowed and felt like an actual film with character development and a great story line."- WJFK FM CBS Radio
"By far the most shallow and inauthentic film that I have seen so far in 2008 and bear in mind, I have seen "Zombie Strippers."- efilmcritic.com
"proves the more things change, the more they stay the same. I just wish director Nanette Burstein was satisfied with the movie being just a documentary."- WaffleMovies.com
"The look and feel of American Teen is authentically 21st century, but the rites of passage it documents are timeless."- Minneapolis Star Tribune
"What makes Nanette Burstein's movie so powerful is its uncanny sense of familiarity. Watching them, we are transported into a humming, philosophical reverie about ourselves."- Washington Post
"An appealing and unexpectedly moving snapshot of 17-year-olds on the tightrope between family and future."- Philadelphia Inquirer
"American Teen feels like truth, and it's still stranger than fiction."- Philadelphia Daily News
"Burstein may not know when to back off, but she's genuinely curious about all she sees. I bet audiences, particularly young audiences, will respond to this picture.- Chicago Tribune
"By the end of the film, you'll be firmly on the side of each of these kids, hoping the best for them."- Arizona Republic
"Riveting documentary is bound to get kids talking."- Common Sense Media
"May be no more revealing than similar television treatments of kids--and has been molded so smoothly as to sometimes seem staged--[but] it's an engaging portrait."- One Guys Opinion
"American Teen is stronger without calamitous characters, whose traumas might've overpowered the film, desensitizing the audience and leaving little room for the important nuances of love, conformity, friendship, heartbreak and yearning."- Paste Magazine
"Burstein or an apologist would probably say that in the YouTube era, overt and even manipulative mediation is a fact of teen life, and that her movie is a reflection of that reality. If so...YouTube is better at being YouTube than American Teen is."- Box Office Magazine
"It's hard not to root for these teens."- Time Magazine
"Revealing, funny and involving."- USA Today
"There's no denying that Burstein has captured something very real, honest truths about growing up that no one who's been to high-school can deny."- TV Guide's Movie Guide