Movie Review # 13 Teenage Dirtbag

Release: 2009
Director: Regina Crosby 
Writer: Regina Crosby
Cast:
Scott Michael Foster (Greek)
Noa Hegesh (Black Dawn)
Chris Ellis (Transformers, Catch Me if You Can, Apollo 13, Armageddon)


Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes: 78% Fresh Audience http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216995-teenage_dirtbag/
IMDB: 6.3/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1091207/
Netflix: 3.5 Stars


My Review:
Teenage Dirtbag is not what it appears. At first glance it looks like a reverse Romeo and Juliet. But you could not be more wrong. As the layers peel away you see a dark movie of abuse, love and in the end death. All of which are told through a first person narrative. As Amber Lane played by Noa Hegesh reminiscences about her high school friend and how rocky their life and friendship was. Then how ultimately someone she hated and loathed became a friend to her.

So that's the story. Now how about everything else. Well not all of it is great. The story is real and it is personal as it is based on true events. So thats good. Editing especially sound editing is down right awful and so is some of the acting. There where times that the actors acted as if they where on a limited time frame and did single shots. Then green lit them even if they lacked the dramatic punch they needed.

All of that just falls at the feet of Regina Crosby. I will give her credit that she did good for a first time feature. She did better than most. Sadly here are a few glaring things. One we go from snow to sunny and then back to snow. Then to kids swimming in a lake. All in a matter of minutes and this was supposed to be a timeline piece where it was the senior year of high school where Thayer played by Scott Michael Foster and Amber become friends. But instead you have set pieces that almost appear out of place. Which happens all to often in this film.

Even as I rip this apart it has a nostalgia about it. It has something that gets to you at your core. Even though it never directly hits home. The film does get its point across even though it missed its mark wide left. Overall I can see it is worth a view. But it is not worth a second or a third. As the film lasts to long and has to many dull and dead moments that could and should have been cut to make a cleaner and effective movie. So that's my opinion and you can take it or leave it. It is all up to you.

My Rating 2.5/5 Stars