The lonely American Teen

Smart-house heaven, it ain't.

Speaking here of our neighborhood AMC theaters, a whopping 30 screens all within a stone's throw of each other in beautiful downtown Burbank. They're not so generous with the "AMC Select" at this time of year. All the more reason this weekend to immediately snatch up tickets when "American Teen" appeared in one of the coveted but rarely assigned indie slots.

Having heard the hearty hurrahs that went up at Sundance for this indie docudrama, we'd been waiting for it to open anywhere closer than a $10 roundtrip (in a Jetta, mind you!).

Then it happened on this past perfect hot weekend. Racing to the multiplex on Saturday afternoon -- Cutting it kind of close, aren't we? Big, big Entertainment Weekly story just told the world how lovable, relatable (and marketable) these kids are! -- we figured we could catch the next one if our chosen show were sold out.

Sorry, Paramount Vantage, or what's left of you. There were six -- count 'em six -- people in the theater. And that's including our party of two.

"American Teen" was everything that every glowing review had said of it -- warm, wise, funny, goofy, charming, heartbreaking, touching, frightening, illuminating, inspiring.

And, according to Box Office Mojo, it's made a whopping $656,000 (sarcasm intended).

It's clearly the non-year of the doc -- critically adored "Young@Heart" couldn't even keep its berth at the Arclight for more than a couple weeks, bumped out by tentpoles -- which is particularly discouraging in light of this insightful little gem. Definitely not a product problem, and doesn't really seem to be a marketing problem, at least judging from the lengths to which Vantage went to try to drum up influential pictures and ink (all favorable, by the way).

No doubt "American Teen" will have a full life, but it's just a shame that an awards-quality movie like this can't get arrested in today's blockbuster-driven environment. We have to wonder if the paltry boxoffice will hurt its chances for much-deserved gold.

Just leaves the obvious question: What's a great doc gotta do to get some love around here? Any ideas? Anybody?