This film had a lot of buzz coming out of Sundance this year, but after seeing the trailer, I'm going to need more convincing. Do we really need another movie that reinforces the prevailing high-school stereotypes? If you think I'm exaggerating, it's all made plain in the trailer itself, which labels its "characters" as "the jock," "the geek," "the rebel," "the heartthrob," and "the princess." What's more, the various stereotypes are all portrayed as having stereotypical goals for their senior year of high school- the jock wants to get a basketball scholarship, the geek wants to find a girlfriend, and so on. The twist here is that director Nanette Burstein has cast the film with real-life students (more or less playing themselves) and shot it in their high school. So judging by the trailer, it's like The Hills, except it premiered at Sundance, which I suppose confers upon it some indie cred. Sorry, but I'm not buying it. Unless I hear that Burstein has found a way to problematize the traditional labeling system instead of simply accepting it as the way things are in modern high schools, I think I might give it a pass. After all, what could it tell this former geek that he doesn't already know? Also, moratorium on the "American ______" titles already, OK?
