pfate12 After being so impressed with "It Follows" I decided to have a look at David Robert Mitchell's first full-length feature. Basically what we have here is an attempted update on "Dazed and Confused" + "American Graffiti" (particularly the subplot of one male teen glimpsing a gorgeous blonde early in the movie and then spending the remainder of the runtime trying to find her) infused with a drop of 80s John Hughes sentimentality. Unfortunately "The Myth of the American Sleepover" falls well short in quality by comparison to those classics.For a movie like this to succeed it needs interesting, thoughtful characters that have interesting, thoughtful things to say. We also need the director to effectively capture dreamy nostalgia and youthful vigor. None of that is here. We're stuck with dull cookie-cutter teens and trite dialogue that is delivered by every character with a surprising level of boredom and absence of passion. The character Maggie comes closest to providing a spark but she shares screen time with too many others and is still restricted by the script.We know from "It Follows" that Mitchell is an excellent cinematographer, skillful in pacing, mood, and creating tension. We also know he is capable of portraying the human condition, traumas, and sufferings with insightful depth. He needs to improve his ability to write good dialogue, particularly when a movie is strongly dependent on it.

brandinfennessy-77531 THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER ~ 2010 ~ Directed by: David Robert Mitchell ~ Starring: Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amy Seimetz~10 *s out of 10 Dear David Robert Mitchell, You are a god, sir .. and, although you may never get the truest recognition you deserve for, perhaps, some time, it's obvious to me that your films are brilliant. as well as absolutely, utterly drenched to the core with a heartbreaking, idiosyncratic style personal to you and you only .. you are a special filmmaker Mr. Mitchell, and this here is one of my all-time favorite pictures; it is, in fact, the greatest coming-of-age that has ever been made .. before seeing this in 2015, a few months after the equally brilliant IT FOLLOWS was released widely, I had dreamt of a film just like it for years and years; I'd dreamt of making one like it one day .. and seeing the film was basically seeing these own dreamscapes of my head realized .. and, of course, realized with more elegance and brilliance than I ever could have dreamt of. ~~~ I'm not going to be naive and pretentious enough to start trying to break down, on a technical level, why this film is a full-fledged (American) masterpiece, but I will say this: the fact that its production budget was a truly borderline micro one (according to basic sources) only goes to strongly exemplify a conviction that this film is a godsend of the heavens, and that it'll eventually go down in history as one of the great (cult) debuts of all time .. this film really feels like living inside of a dream for an hour and forty minutes - a dream from when one is seventeen or eighteen years old .. it explores, with a powerful synthesis of style and substance, the majesty of innocence and the theme of demystification .. I do really hope that it gains full-fledged cult-status one day, b/c this magnificently gloomy, low-budget masterwork damn well deserves it ~~~ If I were to try and break things down technically, I'd start by saying that the cinematography is off-the-effing-hook; the guy that 'DPed' this also did "Moonlight", and the magnificence of his work speaks for itself - along with his oscar nomination, of course!; Mitchell, however, is the visionary here, and, the way I see it is, he essentially looks aesthetics RIGHT in the damn eye, and successfully captures these essences of beauty like a photojournalist in the jungle that manages to photograph rare animals; the way it's shot is Mitchell searching for heaven here on earth, and, through his own unique sense of style and mise-en-scene, he finds it ... furthermore, the unique, divinely peculiar way music is used is perfect and poignant, always enhancing the film throughout; the score-work, sound-design and soundtrack are, seemingly, all blended into a single 'sound' for the film, and everything that's heard truly does seem destined for, and integral to, their respective images ... moreover, Mitchell's casting seems to be heaven-sent, as if these mostly no-name actors (Amy Seimetz not being a no-namer, but just as perfect for this film as the others) were born for this picture, and are as integral to it as anything; they really, truly seem like regular kids and young-adults, almost as if they were just real kids living there in those Detroit suburbs during filming; still, they ARE performances - hyper-realistic ones, and very much unlike the documentary-type performances from young actors and actresses in films like those of Larry Clark ~~~ basically, though, this film is definitely an example of the 'whole being greater than the sum of its parts' .. it's hard to try and put into words why it is honestly as good a picture as "The Godfather" (lol I'm serious) and/or "Citizen Kane", but it most certainly is - by at least any and all standards I can think of .. it is magic, and truly is the pinnacle of the 'coming-of-age' genre .. it really does simply just work, and is as stylish as a picture can get before being avant-garde. 10 *s out of 10

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!

AMadLane I really did want to like it. It was all shot here in the Detroit area, but it doesn't feel like it -- it has more of a generic, anywhere feel, and that's okay.My biggest issue with it is that the script rings totally false. These are young people anywhere from high school sophomores (thus, about 15) to about-to-be second-year college students (thus about 19) -- and they all behave like 11-year-olds. Are we really to believe that people this age get all put-offish over mere kissing?! What world does the writer/director inhabit? This opened the same week as the fine film "Terri," and that movie just crushes this one. Here, the editing is too loose, the acting is average at best across the board, and by the 20th time some guy announces "I want to kiss you" or the like, you're just so bored with it all.A "freshman sleepover" in the University of Michigan gymnasium? With old women "chaperones" guarding/falling asleep at the door? May be, but I sure can't imagine it.