Teen Spirit

What a complete pile of predictable, cliche'd rubbish. Nothing unpredictable, nothing interesting, just one boring predictable scene after the other. The acting was pretty good, but that's it. The script and plot are without depth, without tension, without anything of substance. Luckily I had my laptop to help me survive this. i only sat through it because I was watching with my teenage niece. When the movie ended, she said WHAT? What? Is that it?? I gave her a wry smile.

Elle Fanning stars in Teen Spirit, an indie drama about a young girl who gets the chance to follow her dreams. When a national singing competition holds auditions in a small town on the Isle of White, a teenage waitress named Violet Valenski tries out and partners with a former opera singer who promises to coach her, and get her to the finals. Fanning gives a strong performance and proves to be a pretty good singer too. However, the pacing is a little slow and the plot is bit formulaic, but it does some interesting things with the character development and avoids a few of the more obvious clichés. Also, the soundtrack is really well-done, featuring a good array of pop songs that help to set the right tone. While Teen Spirit has a few problems, it ends up being a rather moving coming-of-age film with something to say.