The Myth of the American Sleepover

source: The Myth of the American Sleepover

This is honestly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The acting is atrocious, it's like watching a cast comprised of entirely Kristen Stewart's not being able to display any semblance of emotion whatsoever. So incredibly boring with completely unbelievable dialogue (the little dialogue there was), even the ones who are supposed to be best friends speak to each other in a way that isn't even remotely grounded in reality. Mostly it's watching these kids barely talk to each other throughout the film. There is zero character introduction or background, none of them have any personality. It genuinely made me angry to watch this.I have never cared less about the characters in a movie in my life, I was rooting for everyone to lose.

I don't know I just wasn't in the mood or something but this was boring to me. It just slugged along. The idea is really interesting and I thought I would have loved it. It really captures the last few days of summer perfectly. I felt like I was going back to school too in a couple of days. The whole atmosphere was perfect but the story was just uninteresting.

I thought that was a masterly work of art, and yet when I came to this one, for some odd reason I absolutely fought it for no other logical reason than in short, I just thought this is going to be botched all up as so many teen type of flicks loaded with characters and dialogue usually are, and waht I mean botched up is cliched and boring; but this, after getting over myself, this was neither a botched job nor boring, it was magnificent! I can't really go over why I absolutely loved it , I would have to go point for point with some double essay at length stripping all apart and then putting it back together and coming up with ways that make this masterly but... dang! lol I just I don't know, it was excellent, sweet and just hit the spot! One thing I might add, the coolest scene in the flic, and by coolest I mean when a character goes off on a tangent leaving behind her friends and plots and designs for something different and in this case, we have the cute lil' short haired blond whom I am sure we all fell in love with and pray hoped to see her in other projects but alas! that is not so, what happened? terrible, terrible dissipation of talent! Because her lil' dance to that cool music was irreverently flying against the face of all that is convention and just like this gem, it just worked! Awesome!

I call this a "modern John Hughes" movie because, just like the John Hughes films of the 80's, they tell stories of teenagers that can hit home with many people. This film tackles some of the not only more modern issues with teenagers, but the deeper issues. I think where it misses its mark is with some of the characters themselves. The story surrounding them may be interesting, but the characters...not so much. For example, I thought the "twins" story line was interesting, but the guy who played the character which this plot surrounds wasn't very likable (perhaps due to his terrible haircut). I think a better casting could have improved this film. The movie looks at teenage life through a slightly nostalgic point of view, but I think it benefits from this. It also shows high school from different points of view, such as a freshman, a senior, or even someone who has already graduated from high school. This film had potential and some good moments, but overall didn't quite hit the mark.

Most of this film is guys with terrible hair stalking girls. The male characters in this film are so so so creepy. Like.. future sex offender or mass shooter creepy. It's a string of pointless scenes with bizarre reactions and dialogue. For example a close up shot of a girl passing a guy a lighter- and there's no significance of this interaction. Or when the blonde girl is looking in the other direction from a shooting star, then she says "did you see that?", the guy says "no what?", she says "nevermind". Firstly it was impossible she could have seen it from that angle, secondly why wouldn't she say "a shooting star".. as if he wouldn't believe her. Then there's the lake scene where she's dancing and they're all laughing and loving it. So weird. The film is full of bizarre scenes like this. And the ending is equally garbage to put the brown icing on the poop cake.

Yeah, I sought this out because of It Follows, and trying to seek out what else the director had done. This is definitely not your ideal coming-of-age story. it seems like these days there are set rules on what those types of films are, and as good as they can be (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) they are also pretty predictable and follow a specific formula. This really strayed from that. Not all of the story lines work perfectly, but it very much feels like a film trying to show actual people interacting and trying to make the whole thing as honest as it could be. The characters are well-painted for the most part, and the film doesn't have the restraints of having to hit certain spots of points that a Hollywood film would try to do. Much of the human touch here would be further explored in It Follows, and so in that sense it's not entirely different. Very surprising, very good film

I admit that I'm a fan of school-age romantic comedies. I enjoyed this movie because a lot of the scenes rang true to my experiences at that age (except for the warehouse scenes -- hello creepy). I can remember putting my hand next to a girl's hand -- almost touching -- just to see if she'd go the last half inch. I can remember trying to get a do-over with a girl that I'd let slip away during high school. I can remember walking the streets of my town hoping to run into a pretty girl that I'd seen. I can remember picking the wrong girl because society told me she was cooler. And I can remember trying to catch lightening in a bottle on the last weekend before school starts. For some reason, this movie has slid entirely under the radar, but it deserves attention.

It's the last days of the summer and high school is starting up soon. Janelle Ramsey invites new girl Claudia to her sleepover party but she may know Cameron's boyfriend. Maggie and Beth would rather not go to the sleepover. They get invited by Cameron to a party. Rob Salvati brags about fictional hookups. Scott Holland leaves college and becomes obsessed with twins Ady Abbey and Anna Abbey. His sister Jen tells him that they have left for college frosh week lockup. These and other young kids party at the pool, the makeout maze, and other places waiting for the end of summer. This is a much-filmed genre. This has a few moments of interesting dialog or scenario. The actors are mostly amateurs. Filmmaker David Robert Mitchell pulls from quite a few coming-of-age stories. The production is generally professional. The use of new faces does give a sense of genuineness. However, following so many characters does scatter the tension. This may work better losing one main story and a couple of characters. The amateur high school actors have their charms but also have their deficiencies.

Various teenagers go to various parties, each longing to make the last night before school starts up again memorable in the slice of life drama. Those who are expecting American Pie type shenanigans to follow are best to look elsewhere as this film has more realistic, and dare I say, more noble goals in mind. Almost every Tuesday Instant Netflix has at least one film streaming on same day as released on DVD, this week it's three films (this one, Wolf Town, and Beneath the Darkness) and while I can't vouch for the other 2 as I still have yet to watch them, I can give my enthusiastic thumbs up for this one. I found the film to ring true of the teenage experience of the average American teenager. The pathos, the awkwardness, the long & uncertainties are all on display. And frequently well-acted to boot. Writer/director David Mitchell is one to be on the lookout for if he continues to put out films of this caliber. My Grade: B+