American Teen (2008)

I watched this not knowing it was purported to be a documentary. I figured it was just a story told as if it was a documentary. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Staged and scripted or not, it's a fairly compelling look into the American teenage life. I found myself genuinely caring about these teenagers and hoping that they would succeed. Knowing that it was all purported as real makes it slightly less impressive (I was marveling at the dialogue, which sounded totally unscripted, and the very natural actors...heh...less talent involved in that aspect since it's real). Watching it as just a very entertaining story with no roots in reality was a bit more fun, but either way it's quite a good movie. 4 stars.