'The Myth of the American Sleepover' review

Nikita and Jade Ramsey (Credit: James Laxton/Sundance Selects)

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Several Michigan teens are headed for one long summer evening, including Maggie (Claire Sloma) and Rob (Marlon Morton), who are looking to expand their sexual experience in separate situations, Claudia (Amanda Bauer), who is about to make an unwelcome discovery about her older boyfriend, and college-aged Scott (Brett Jacobsen), who hopes to get over an ex by checking in with the identical twins (Nikita and Jade Ramsey) who might have had a crush on him.

The verdict: Writer-director David Robert Mitchell's debut feature made some waves on the festival circuit, nabbing an ensemble cast award at the SXSW fest and landing a spot in Cannes' Critics Week. With a narrative made up of overlapping stories a la "American Graffiti" and "Dazed and Confused," "Sleepover" marks a departure from typical teen offerings—no wacky antics, shocking behavior or life-shattering melodrama here, just an interest in small quiet moments that make up the indelible memories of youth. Mitchell's filmmaking is surprisingly assured, but the inexperienced cast can't quite deliver the emotional credibility the material needs to reach its full potential. Real teenagers may be more awkward than we're accustomed to seeing on screen, but these performances vacillate between adequate and affected to a distracting degree. At least everyone has their heart in the right place for this empathetic story, giving "Myth of the American Sleepover" the warm feeling of a group of friends doing what they can to help a promising young filmmaker get his start.

[“The Myth of the American Sleepover” is also available through “IFC In Theaters,” a video on demand service from select cable providers.]

Follow Metromix's Geoff Berkshire on Twitter: @geoffberkshire

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