Being a teenager Really Sucks!

Rating: Null/10 (3 June 2003)

Warning: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, BUT, IF YOU ARE HERE, YOU'VE PROBABLY SEEN THIS FILM ANYWAY.
Right after I saw this film I thought it was brilliant. Then I came here and read the comment by MR. RICHARD CALLAGHAN, which was not really nice about this film. In many ways, most of what he said was correct, but that doesn´t make the film any bad. The opening quote by David Bowie really is the hallmark of student pretension, but anyone who can´t see beyond it falls under another meaning for the quote which is: Adults don´t know s*** about how hard it is to be a teenager.
When the film begins, we see five young people coming to school, where they are going to spend a Saturday in detention. Each one of them represents one of the five main High School Archetypes: The o-so-perfect-and-pretty princess, the cool-among-the-cool athlete, the brain, the bully/criminal, and the freak. Anyone and I do mean ANYONE who comes to watch this film will connect to at least one, maybe two, of these characters. The teacher leaves them in the library and tells them to write an essay on how they view themselves. They sit and wait bored to their bones.
Mr. Callaghan says that three of them are unidemensional and only one of them has anything interesting to say. He failed to realise that what Hughes created was the Microcosmos of any Highschool, anywhere, in any given time. The Characters get as much attention and relevance as their Archetypes would (and do) in a real-life highschool. At first, they sit in silence, loathing the possibility to speak with each other, but Bender won´t let that happen.
He comes from a violent home and really has, from an objective point of view, the worst problems. He thinks it gives him the right to be violent and pick on everyone else. He thinks he is better because he is a survivor. His favourite targets are the ones he envies: Claire and Andy
Claire has a rich father and is pretty, she is a spoiled Barbie girl. But she is haunted by her perfection. It comes up when she avoids the topic of her virginity and when she is sincere about their friendships.
Andy is a strong and handsome wrestler, and also very popular. His problems come from living up to his father´s expectations, which include a college scholarship achieved through wrestling.
Brian is the typical nerd who wants to be accepted, but in failing to achieve that goal, wants to excel in all his school subjects. His world crumbles when he gets an F because he is not very good with hand craft, he also gets a lot of pressure from his parents
Allison is a freak with great artistic talent. She is just wants to be loved, but is ignored by everyone, even her parents. That is reflected in the film by her trying to draw attention to herself all throughout the film, but nobody gives her any. The character is supposed to be ignored, that´s something I find brilliant.
The film goes on in pretty much the way it would happen in real life. They get to know each other and find out that the others aren´t the monsters they thought. They are now friends. In this climax, everything crumbles when Brian asks them if they will still be friends on Monday. Claire says that probably not. And even though Andy and Bender deny it and scorn her for saying that. Even though the final moments suggest otherwise with two very unlikely couples, I think she is right. On Monday they will be strangers again just like in real life. Or not, who knows?
All of this happens while their teacher is in school, totally oblivious to the world of the teenagers, just like in real life. Adults normally dismiss the problems of adolescents regarding them as some minor "typical facts of teen life". Yes, they are right but any "typical fact of teen life" can leave a pretty ugly scar in a time one´s personality is still very fragile and in formation process. Adults should never forget that, and that´s what this film is about.