It's been ten years since this "documentary" came out and Nanette Burstein still hasn't fessed up (the way Peter Jackson did, and immediately, with FORGOTTEN SILVER), so we can now call it what it is. It's not a documentary, nor is it (as one reviewer here suggests) a "mockumentary". It's a hoax, and a pretty clumsy one at that. Burstein supposedly studied a group of high school seniors in small-town Indiana, only to discver that -- surprise! -- they're as stereotypical as characters in a John Hughes movie or an episode of THE O.C. or DAWSON'S CREEK. There's the sensitive rebel (Hannah Bailey), the jock (Colin Clemens), the band geek (Jake Tusing) and the snooty campus queen (Megan Krizmanich). Now granted, they may be real teenagers, and their stories may be (more or less) true, but the movie is a virtual symphony of false notes. Tusing's acne seems to clear and re-erupt from one hour to the next. Many scenes (and I frankly think all of them) are patently staged, with visible microphone packs and camera crews on both ends of "spontaneous" phone calls. Tusing downs his first shot of what we are told is tequila, but he doesn't so much as grimace (even seasoned drinkers can't do that without making a face, never mind a tequila "virgin"). Home video dated 1988 shows Clemens a year old, yet he's supposedly 17 in 2006. And Burstein takes a writer's credit, but there's no narration -- so obviously, what she wrote is the "spontaneous" dialogue. The movie is entertaining in its hackneyed way, but so trite and cliche-ridden that the only way Nanette Burstein could hope to get away with it was to claim that it was "real life" that just HAPPENED to be trite and cliche-ridden. That so many people -- not only reviewers here but the jury at Sundance and supposedly sophisticated film critics -- accepted this obvious fiction as an honest documentary speaks volumes about their own gullibility.

I like how in the movie they show all the cliques, because even with everything that goes on in the world. People stick with cliques and what they know because sometimes differences can be fear. A fear of what other people might think if they try something new or hang out with a new person who is not from their clique like Mitch. I love the part when Hannah is on the stage and you hear his voice saying I have been here for four years and I have never met Hannah. Watching him, watch makes you wonder would he actually hang out with her before school was over because he was a jock and she was like the rebel she did things her own way on her own time. Which honestly I wish I could of done in high school just a little.Anyway they actually started hanging out and enjoying each others company until she hung out with him and his friends and it looked like none of them even decided to talk to her which was rude. Like it was like she was not even there. How rude I thought but then again it is high school and it was obvious that his friends didn't want her around and she felt out of place.

Though not as artificial as MTV pseudo-reality staple "The Hills", this Paramount produced documentary about several teens from Warsaw, IN, eschews verisimilitude in order to create as dramatic a film as possible. Some scenes ring true particularly those featuring the not-raised-on reality TV parents. (All except for the Elvis-impersonator father who clearly loves the attention.) The film consistently gives off an air of artificiality. Several teens date outside of their normal cliques and one can assume this in part has to do with a chance to get some time on camera. As anyone who has sat through "The Bachelor" or the odious "A Shot at Love", amour can be faked for the camera quite easily.And in its artificiality, the film inadvertently allows the viewer to contemplate the veracity of reality television and ask the question of whether or not anyone born in the late 20th century can ever be genuine for the camera. In effect, we're dealing with two barriers to capturing an accurate picture of today's teen, a promise made by the title. Teens are inundated by reality programming. They have internalized the rhythms of the reality show and the behavior of its stars. So its inevitable that teens will be "playing a part" in the drama. As mentioned above, there are several odd romantic choices made by the film's characters, as well, that reveal either a desire for stardom by the teens or meddling by producers/director. Likely a little bit of both. We are not really seeing a documentary about today's teen, but an observation of how teens will act while filmed.With all that understood, the film is entertaining. Director Nanette Burstein has crafted a slick production that plays like an above average teen flick. Even with the cameras on and several unbelievable dramatic contrivances, we do get glimpses of reality. Iconoclast Hannah's conversations with her manic depressive mother and the film's basketball games contain real drama. This is a highly flawed production that is nonetheless entertaining.

I kept thinking throughout the whole film that there was something inauthentic to it. It seemed staged. Manufactured. Not all of it but certain plot points seemed "created". That kept me from really enjoying the film. Additionally, Megan's Hate Crime goes largely unpunished, at least what they chose to show. If she had scrawled a racial slur on that young man's window, it would have been taken very seriously. It sends a dangerous message, although that can be said for a lot of this film.Bottom line on this film for me is that it doesn't feel authentic. It feels false. Even though she probably is guilty of it as well, I never get the feeling proceedings have been staged while watching a film by Barbara Kopple.