The Myth of the American Sleepover

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.

If you are from Clawson, you will probably add a bonus 2 stars to your review like I did. As others have said, this film is basically a clunker with some weird, unexplainable charm. The characters are a mix of creepy and strange. Nothing seems all that realistic. The dialogue is sparce and stilted. The obsession the children have with booze is disturbing. The whole twins thing is positively bonkers. But it's unlike anything you've seen... until you watch 'It Follows', which has a similar vibe that has thankfully been refined. I will say that the actress with the pierced face was pretty good. I am surprised we haven't seen more of her since she made her debut in this movie.

The Myth of the American Sleepover plays like a toned-down, more modest version of Superbad. The parties are lighter, but are they more realistic? The language is softer, but is that reality? And the script is more controlled, but is it more fun to listen to? The main problem with the film is in the screenplay, which is slow, overly patient, and sometimes wholly vacant. There's something going on in films today that is beginning to aggravate me. It's the awkward silences. Being around the age of the teenagers in this film, I can safely say we don't talk like this, with long, abrupt pauses following every line. This was actually my main complaint in Terri, another dark coming of age film. The film would've been great if it would've replaced its pauses with some nice dialog to further develop the characters.

A film can't talk for the entire time, therefore, musical montages and sometimes long stretches of silence do take place. The only difference is, more often than not, they aren't continuous throughout the whole film. Just when The Myth of the American Sleepover starts to get interesting, it is plagued by a long, directionless silence.

Aside from that sidestep, the rest of the film is actually quite wholesome, surprising, and somewhat sweet in its poignant form. It depicts a wide variety of teenagers who are attending a sleepover, a house party, or a pool party during their final week on summer break. I love and hate movies like this. Love them because it lays the groundwork for a great anthology, and hate them because it makes for a challenging review. I've decided I won't go into any stories or characters to leave the experience as fresh as possible. All I will say is that some of these unknowns may possibly drift into wonderful character actors before they know it.

For an independent film, it has some very impressive, sunny cinematography. That seems like the least of ones concerns when watching a coming of age drama, but the cinematography here must be commended. The film always looks wonderful. It goes from warm, joyous, and simple with its pallet of vibrant colors, to cold, dreary, and a pessimistic tone with its darker pallet as time goes on. I'm not sure one has ever payed so close attention to photography in a comedy-drama.

Alas, what kills the film is just its inability to establish worthy or witty dialog. It's dark, yes, but even the darkest of comedies have their moments of wit and passion. The Myth of the American Sleepover doesn't, and that's disappointing. The film's message basically tells us the teen life isn't like Superbad or an Apatow comedy, which we're fully aware of. But it isn't as murky or as mundane as this presents it. It seems one of the few films to effectively blend realism with humor and believable characterization was The Breakfast Club. That had a lot of silence in the beginning, but it was fitting because these characters were just as foreign to each other as we were to them. By the end, they had talked up a storm with each other. While Myth is somewhat humanistic and poignant, it's also slow and for the wrong reason.

Starring: Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen, Nikita Ramsey, Jade Ramsey, and Amy Seimetz. Directed by: David Robert Mitchell.

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 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.