Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll:
The Explosion of Teen Movies
by J. Robert Parks
Am I the only who's noticed the explosion of teen movies lately? It seems that almost every week, a new one is released. Some focus on love, others on growing up, still others on dealing with authority, but they're all marketed to teenagers with money to burn, hopefully on tickets and popcorn. Why are there so many of them, and are they any good? The second question is an easier one to answer, so let's start there by looking at five of the more popular ones from the last few months: Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You, She's All That, Varsity Blues and Go.
Let's Talk About Sex
Let's eliminate the weakest
entry first. Cruel Intentions can be easily summed up, as I'm sure
it was at the Hollywood pitch meeting, as Dangerous Liaisons for
the teen set. Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
play stepbrother and stepsister of very rich parents. Of course, money
has jaded them, and they have nothing better to do than uphold their reputations
and ruin everyone around them. To make things interesting, they make a
bet on whether Sebastian can deflower the virginal newcomer (Reese Witherspoon).
The wager includes a promised tryst between stepbrother and sister but,
like much of the movie, that's all a lot of talk. From the opening conversation
between the two leads, it's clear that dialogue and beautiful sets (and
people) will be the order of the day. Unfortunately, the actors aren't
up to the task.
If director and writer Roger Kumble had been smart, he would've gone for the high camp and nasty fun of last year's Wild Things, which was over-the-top in all the right ways. Instead we get hints of what could've been: Gellar lounging in Central Park while dressed like Greta Garbo, one girl teaching another to french kiss in a painful close-up shot, a cross necklace used as a carrying case for cocaine, and lines like "You can put it anywhere you want." Make a whole movie like this, and you have a perfect midnight camp fest. Unfortunately, everyone takes themselves too seriously, and the movie descends into interminable dialogue, bad acting, and the jaded nihilism that passes for cool these days. I'll pass, thanks.
Guy Bets on Bedding Girl
But Falls in Love Instead
If I did nothing but go
to the movies, I'd assume that teenage guys spend most of their time betting
each other on which high school girl they can get but discover true love
just in time for their previous duplicity to be
exposed at the prom.
Yes, 10 Things I Hate About You follows that tired premise, along with the other stock teen situations: misunderstanding parents, sibling rivalries and huge parties. But it has one thing going for it--the incredibly winning Julia Stiles in the lead role. She plays Kat, the older sister who has no interest in romance. But, because of her father's twisted sense of parenting, she also precludes her younger sister (played by Larisa Oleynik), who desperately wants to date, from doing so. If this sounds vaguely like Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, that's because it is, though the similarities extend only to the plot formula and a few polysyllabic words. Fortunately, Stiles takes this story and makes it her own. She's the only actor who has the comic timing to really make her jokes work and, when she falls in love, I believed every mushy moment.
10 Things is also a surprisingly moral film. There's no sex or nudity, and the only sexual talk, besides the original bet the guys make, is between the two sisters discussing why it's best to wait. Dr. Dobson would be pleased. Unfortunately, the movie breaks down on the issue of underage drinking. The huge party, functioning as one of the climactic moments of the story, is populated by high schoolers chugging beer, along with a huge tower of beer cans, the most irritating example of product placement I've seen in months. And unlike the injunction against premarital sex, teenage drinking seems so normal it doesn't even need a comment.
Despite this drawback, 10 Things has a lot going for it. It isn't a great movie by any means, but it is sweet and good-natured, and perfect for teenagers interested in a little (and very old) formula.
Guys Bets on Bedding Girl
But Falls in Love Instead, Part II
She's All That is
probably best-known among hip Christians (not an oxymoron) for being the
movie that launched the monster Sixpence hit, "Kiss Me." Like 10 Things,
it falls into the nice-and-sweet teen category, though here the influence
is George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.
Zach Siler (Freddie Prinze,
Jr.) is the BMOC at William Henry Harrison High who's just been dumped
by the class princess. Distraught, he foolishly accepts a bet that he can
turn any girl into this year's prom queen. The friend picks Laney Boggs
(played by the delightful Rachael Leigh Cooke, most famous for the "This
is your brain on heroin" commercial), a wallflower who spends her time
with fat kids and making conceptual art. Could she be any more of a loser?
Well, not until she takes off her smock and glasses. But put a red velvet
dress on her, and she's the toast of the
school.
She's All That is far from being a good movie. On more than one occasion I genuinely wondered whether the reels were being shown out of order, as the characters spoke of events the audience should've seen but hadn't. I have a feeling the producers ran out of money and just had to cut certain scenes. Oh well, continuity has never been a strong component of the teen flick. But again, it's the lead actors to the rescue, as both Prinze and Cooke turn in engaging performances. Zach is that combination found only in the Hollywood movie: the incredibly popular high school jock who's also sensitive and caring, even to the lowest geek. Though he's bet on a girl, we realize early on that he's a good egg when he participates in one of Laney's performance art events. And Boggs is darling with that self-effacing demeanor and vulnerability that make sensitive guys swoon. Shame on Zach if he doesn't realize what he has. Of course he does, and so does she. Ahhh, wuv, twu wuv.
Team Kicks Coach's Butt for
a Change
Thankfully, Varsity Blues
has no betting, at least on women, but it does have its share of obtuse
adults and enormous parties (a staple of almost all of these teen flicks).
I'm not sure about your high school, but I never remember a party that
the jocks, preps, rebels, and geeks all attended. Breakfast Club
to the contrary, those folks didn't even associate in detention.
James Van Der Beek of Dawson's Creek fame stars as the back-up quarterback of a Texas high school football team. This being Texas, football is god, and the next best thing to being the starting quarterback of a successful team is being the back-up. And when the starter goes down with a knee injury, voila, now he's the campus stud. But all is not well in West Canaan, for Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight), the evil football coach, doesn't tolerate any extra-curricular activities; and Van Der Beek being the sensitive, young high school jock that he is, has other priorities in life. This sets up the classic teen anti-authority plot which, of course, must end in the teenagers taking over and showing the adults how it's really done (think of Taps on the football field, though no one dies).
Despite the simple plot, Varsity Blues at least tries to wrestle with a typical teenager's concerns--what does it mean to be successful, what am I going go to do with my life, should I choose my girlfriend over my guy friends--and does it in ways that aren't patently offensive to adults. I found myself groaning at some of the dialogue but still rooting for the West Canaan football team in the climactic contest.
The Adult Movie in Teen Clothing
Go is a strange movie
for this article, as it's not a teen movie at all, but you'd never know
that from the marketing. Heavily advertised on MTv and other teen networks,
it also features Katie Holmes and Scott Wolf, both stars of popular teen
tv shows (Dawson's Creek and Party of Five, respectively).
And it has other elements common to teen movies, like enormous parties
and a very hip soundtrack. The similarities end there, though, for Go--with
its strong emphasis on drug use and dealing, and adult concerns like paying
the rent--plays to a much older audience, one used to fare like Pulp
Fiction and Swingers.
The last reference is no coincidence, as Go director Doug Liman also directed Swingers, and the two movies have a lot in common. Both focus on young adults trying to get by, both revolve around nightclubs and trips to Las Vegas, and both rely on dark cinematography to set the mood. Unlike the shiny, bright lighting of the other four movies, Go is gloomy even when it's daylight, and there's precious little of that.
Go is also just a more serious movie. Structured like Pulp Fiction with three sections that overlap each other, the movie chronicles the consequences of people making bad, if expedient, decisions. So a young grocery store cashier looks to a night of drug dealing to help pay her rent, even though she knows she's sailing into uncharted and dangerous waters. Two young men use a gun to get out of a tough spot but then have to deal with the petty hoods on their tail. A young girl, alone on Christmas eve, looks to a drug dealer for companionship.
The movie has a lot going for it (excuse the pun), with a crushing electronica soundtrack, strong performances and a willingness to deal honestly with issues of race. Interestingly, all five of these teen movies have one black character in a supporting role (think of the marketing possibilities) but only Go actually explores the ramifications of being a lonely black figure in a very white world. But as the movie heads towards its conclusion, it starts to lose its interest. The dialogue, often clever in the first half of the movie ("if you were any less black, you'd be clear!"), loses its steam; and the consequences of the poor decisions take on a deterministic feel. Of course, the novice drug dealer is going to have to face the music, but it's not as interesting after 90 minutes; and those put off by the constant drug references will have bailed long before that.
Why and Why Now
Though these five movies,
along with other teen pics like Never Been Kissed, Carrie 2:
The Rage, and Blast from the Past, range in style from puppy-dog
love to dark and dangerous, the explosion of movies marketed
at teenagers begs the questions
of "why" and "why now?" It seems that there are two reasons. The first
is that teenagers have more disposable income now and a greater latitude
to spend it. Movies provide a safe outlet for that money (parents don't
have to worry too much about what Junior is doing in the theater) and a
reliable form of entertainment that everyone can enjoy.
From Hollywood's perspective, teen movies are a safe bet. Inexpensive to make (no special effects budget or $20 million stars) with a built-in and undiscriminating audience, the teen flick will rarely lose money and has the potential (as Varsity Blues showed) to make a killing. Go may have only grossed about $15 million so far, but it's budget was less than $7 million. That combination is difficult for any studio head to resist.
Also, the rise of teen-dominated television (think of Dawson's Creek, Buffy, Party of Five, Felicity--the list goes on and on) has created an entire roster of recognizable actors to star in these movies. No longer do we have Molly Ringwald and a cast of no-names. Now every main character and most of the minor ones have a tv show somewhere and name recognition among the target audience. Marketing the teen movie was never so easy.
This development has had
an interesting side-effect--the sharp decrease in sex and nudity in teen
films. Back in the '80s and early '90s, almost every teen movie revolved
around sex and promised the libidinous audience some glimpse of what they
couldn't see on television. But that was in the day when most of the minor
characters were unknown up-and-comers whose sole purpose was to show their
skin. Now, every movie is populated by young actors with a track record
and reputation to protect, and even the movies that focus on sex (Cruel
Intentions) do little more than talk about it; and most of the movies
go out of their way to show their characters as upstanding young folk who
not only don't practice any kind of sex but actively avoid it even when
offered. In Varsity Blues, one of the most erotic uses of whipped
cream ever seen on screen is offered to our main character; but he chastely
declines. If today's movies are to be believed, America's young men have
an amazing amount of self-control, except when it comes to wagering on
the opposite sex. Bedding is out, betting is in.
10 Things I Hate About You: 
Cruel Intentions: 
She's All That: 
Varsity Blues:
Go: