Jonah Abbott
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Paynbob
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Logan
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
SnoopyStyle
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.
Red_Identity
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
Odysseus551
Some may view the struggles of adolescence with fond memory, as a time of innocence and a stepping stone to becoming an adult, others may see it as a collection of petty first world squabbles that we all must joylessly march through to enter the crushing world of adulthood. However you view it, the fact is we all must, or have underwent its trails, in our way… The Myth of the American sleepover tries to (and in my humble opinion succeeds rather well) in conveying this fact and gives us a sometimes startling accurate insight into how we used to think, behave and what we used to aspire too. Told in an episodic fashion with no real main character or plot, the movie instead focuses on characters, all teenagers, during one night, specifically the last night of summer vacation and set in that most barren of wastelands, the white American suburbs as they try to fulfil their desire before summers end.Being that there is no set story or plot the movie ops instead for a series of episodic tales or parables if you will, each one involving a character searching for something, typically that which all adolescents search for… love, excitement, friendship, or even just to end the summer with a bang. Its all very nicely handled with the stories being loosely connected to one another and switching back and forth in a relatively seamless manner so that you are never confused as to whats going on or whose doing what. This is further helped by the slow pace of the movie which ensures that everything flows slowly but smoothly, almost like a dream. Indeed the noted sparsity of dialogue and the cinematography does give the whole movie a dreamlike effect as each character searches for that which they desire before the sun inevitably rises and the dream ends.However this slow pace and lack of any complicated plot may be a turn off to some people and i would be lying by omission if i didn't say that a heavy tolerance to "whimsy" is needed to appreciate or even tolerate this movie, and while some be put off by the very "indie" feel, with people talking about their emotions while looking at the stars etc i would however encourage these people to look a little harder because if so they will find that this movie actually handles teenagers very realistically, all least compared to some supposed "indie teenager emotion movies" like Garden State for example. At certain points the movie achieves the highest praise one can bestow upon a film, being that you forget your watching actors in a movie and not real people just being filmed. Indeed the acting in this movie was really quite excellent given the age of the actors, director David Robert Mitchell really manages to capture the awkwardness and conflicting desires that plague those lost in the void between childhood and adulthood. But best of all he manages to capture this without crossing that line and becoming too whimsical or indie. Your not for example, as so many of these types of movies make you, rolling your eyes in disgust or throwing up at the cheesy, right on the nose, "emotionial" dialogue. Instead its all subdued and tastefully done, and as long as you give it chance then you can really enjoy it or what it is.On the flip side of that however, the subdued and quiet pace of the movie, while one of its many strengths is also its greatest weakness, the movie lacks enough of a punch or "oomph" if you will, while a nice watch its not terribly memorable, which is a shame because it has some good actors and was all handled rather well. But in the end its not enough to make it stay with you or to stand out as unique creation. So overall i couldn't recommend this to anyone whose looking for action or comedy or zany antics because id be a great big liar. However I would recommend it to anyone who wants to take a walk down memory lane and relive those glorious or torturous years, and remember a time when the biggest worry you had was if the girl at the supermarket noticed you or not, or when a social gathering meant sleepovers at your friends house and every beer was a little can of illegal debauchery and summer was your kingdom and you its sovereign ruler.
Chris Smith (RockPortReview)
The coming of age story is a staple genre in film that seems to come and go with the times. The mid to late 1990's had "American Pie" and other such imitators, along with a revival of the teen horror movie. "Myth of the America Sleepover" is an independent drama that won a Special Jury Award at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival for Best Ensemble cast. The cast is populated with mostly real teens and non actors, giving it a very real and authentic look.Set in the early 1990's in a middle class Midwestern town, this film looks like it could be an autobiographical account of director David Robert Mitchell's formative years. The story meanders through the lives of several teens on the last days of summer vacation. Everybody is searching for something in one way or another. Looking for adventure, a girl seen in the grocery store and for new friends. Mitchell's film is not exploitive of its characters and rarely resorts to cheap stereotypes. Although minorities are pretty much absent, we are given the usual token black person. This being said the authenticity of the film is quite impressive and similar to what I experienced myself.This movie, unlike most, treats its characters like real people living real lives. The thoughts, anxieties and pressures are all there. This is a time before the internet and cell phones when everything was more personal and "real". But no matter what generation you grew up in there are still basic fundamentals of growing up that are universal. "Myth of the American Sleepover" is available on demand from Comcast and as always check it out!
