True Adolescents (2009)

• Year: 2009
• Released: 29 Jul 2011
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023346/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/true_adolescents
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/true-adolescents
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Unrated
• Genre: Comedy, Drama
• Runtime: 88 min
• Writer: Craig Johnson
• Director: Craig Johnson
• Cast: Mark Duplass, Bret Loehr, Carr Thompson

	6.0/10
	57/100

True Adolescents Storyline

Craig Johnson’s poised and poignant first feature follows Sam (Mark Duplass), an, unbeknownst to him, washed-up rocker in the early stages of haggard. Jobless and apartment-less, he crashes with his aunt (a compassionate Melissa Leo) as a last resort and becomes reluctant camping-trip chaperone to her teenage son and a pal. That the three males are on par, maturity-wise, makes for engaging ensemble juvenilia. But in the stirring Pacific Northwest wilderness a surprising discovery turns dire — and the distance from boy to man must be covered overnight. Duplass’s ballsy and at times balls-out performance is a winner, particularly when Sam at long last takes stock of himself: it ain’t pretty.

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True Adolescents Movie Reviews

An interesting though flawed character study.

Mark Duplass stars as Sam–a loser who, in his mid-30s, has no home and no job….but he is in a band! When he moves in with his aunt and her family, he mostly sits around doing nothing–that is, until he gets drafted into taking his 14 year-old cousin and his friend on a camping trip. Now considering all three have exactly the same maturity level, you know things can’t go well with good ‘ol Sam in charge! And, not surprisingly, that’s exactly what happens. Can Sam somehow, for once, short some maturity and get them back safely? Or, will they be eaten by bears and squirrels and hippies in the Pacific Northwest?

This is an unusual film in many ways. It is NOT formulaic but at the same time I am sure a lot of folks WON’T like it very much because it does not have a happy ending. I respect it, however, because it avoided formula and because the filmmakers did a good job of actually capturing the essence of 14 year-olds. Instead of the Hollywood way where you get a 20-something to play a 14 year-old, these really WERE kids that age. And, they talked like kids that age–not like Hollywood versions of kids! I only recently retired from teaching and know how 14 year-olds talk–and they DO talk like the boys in “True Adolescents”. Worth seeing even if the film seems very incomplete by its conclusion.

Maturing mumblecore

Sam is a character who hates the idea of growing up, and, even as he approaches his mid-thirties, he clings onto the idea that he is a musician that will get his big break any minute from now. His ideology is the kind teenagers exiting high school or entering college possess, but then go onto approach a life-realization that they’re living in a fantasy. Sam hasn’t received such an awakening, and this makes for the perfect coming of age film centered on a character that solemnly loathes the idea.

Sam is played by Mark Duplass, who, consistent readers will know, is quickly becoming one of my favorite male leads. After getting kicked out by his girlfriend, Sam crashes at his aunt’s home in upstate Seattle (Melissa Leo) where she lives with her teenage son Oliver (Bret Loehr). When her divorced husband calls off the camping trip between him and Oliver, Sam feels almost obligated to take his dad’s place and, after some convincing by his aunt, reluctantly takes Oliver and his best friend Jake (Carr Thompson) on a replacement camping trip.

In a Hollywood film, the formula that would prove prophetic is that the three would be met with The Great Outdoors-style problems, wreak havoc on mother nature, have their actions prove reckless and almost inconsequential to nature and man, and walk away learning just about nothing. Thankfully, this is not a Hollywood film. It’s a subtle, successful merge between a “mainstream” independent movie and the grassroots of comprehensive mumblecore (another recent example of the hybrid would be Colin Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed).

Mumblecore is often characterized by the naturalistic flow of its dialog and the inherent messiness of its videography and editing. Here, it has that polished look, while maintaining naturalistic dialog executed wonderfully by actors lacking a household name (with the possible exception of Leo). By the middle of the second half, I felt I kind of knew were this was going, yet was still liking every minute of it. It is then the film introduces an unexpectedly daring twist that catches one off-guard and ushers in a plethora of story possibilities, resulting in a pleasant maturity for the cast and crew. Writer Craig Johnson doesn’t cop out when the going gets tough, but forces his characters to buckle down and grow up within the last half hour of the film.

True Adolescents brilliantly showcases the maturity of a genre and its characters, by, as always, giving them a brutally honest slice of life and utilizing small events as the film’s main conflicts. The character actors are wonderful, the scenery of the Olympic Peninsula is gorgeous, the scenery, especially in the woods, is thrilling and inviting, and all of this makes for a wonderfully earnest debut from writer Craig Johnson, who may rank next to the Duplass brothers, Andrew Bujalski, and Lynn Shelton as the best mumblecore directors in the business.

Starring: Mark Duplass, Bret Loehr, and Carr Thompson. Directed by: Craig Johnson.

Into the Woods as Boys, Out of the Woods as Men

I liked Mark Duplass quite a lot in “Humpday,” and there are several moments in “True Adolescents” when you get a glimpse of what a good actor he has it in him to be. But what also struck me about his performance in this coming-of-age story was how unlikable he can be when paired with the wrong material.

He plays an immature musician, drifting through life and pissing off just about anyone who might be willing to tolerate him, until, bottomed out and crashing in his aunt’s house, he agrees to take her son and his best friend on a camping expedition when the kid’s father bails on him (for what, we are to understand, is the umpteenth time). While on that trip, something happens between the two teenagers that jeopardizes, and perhaps with dangerous results, their trip and forces Duplass into the role of adult, a role for which he is not overly suited.

We’re supposed to think Duplass is a loser, and I suppose we’re even supposed to get impatient with him, but I also think we’re meant to find him funny and charming, and I just didn’t. Some people have a knack for being snide and sarcastic while still being winning, and some don’t. Guess which camp Duplass falls in for me? My viewing experience of “True Adolescents” wasn’t at all helped by the fact that the Netflix streaming version I saw screwed up somewhere toward the end so that the picture and the soundtrack were operating entirely independently of one another, so maybe it’s not fair of me to judge the film too harshly.

The cast includes Melissa Leo as Duplass’s aunt, and makes me start to wonder if Leo, an actress I usually like very much, has decided that her best career move is to appear in absolutely any movie someone offers to her.

Grade: B-