American Girl (2002) review

Dir. Jordan Brady

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★½

Perhaps the scariest detail about Jordan Brady’s American Girl — later retitled as “Confessions of an American Girl” for the 2005 MGM DVD release — is that it claims to be based on actual events. You have to take the filmmakers’ words for it. I’m not sure if this is either a semi-autobiographical take on screenwriter Scott Sandoe’s upbringing or a look at what director Jordan Brady experienced growing up since the internet offers me nothing but career filmography notes. Clarity on where exactly the troubling, absurd, and weirdly comedic truth within American Girl lies might make for an interesting film in itself.

The film revolves around Rena, played by Jena Malone, a suicidal teenager who paradoxically still remains optimistic, if naïvely so, about the prospects of raising the perfect family. The one she was born into is less-than-ideal. She has an idealistic view of her father, John (Chris Mulkey), who is serving two life sentences in the slammer. She has all these fond memories of daddy reading her bedtime stories at night, and tending to her every need. Over the course of 88 minutes, she’s going to see many cracks in her cherished pair of rose-colored glasses.

Her sorta-boyfriend is a jagoff jock (Erik von Detten), who doesn’t want to be seen with her, and uses her for sex successfully enough to get her pregnant. No matter. She wants to keep the baby and raise it. Rena lives with her overworked mother Madge (Michelle Forbes), half-sister Barbie (Alicia Witt), and closeted brother Jay (Brad Renfro). She successfully convinces her family to visit John at the annual prison picnic. What a sight to behold this thing is. Set in what can only be described as Dirtville, USA, the family visits the picnic for an afternoon of tug-of-war, shackle races, and other alleged fun with fellow inmates. Rena wants to tell daddy she’s pregnant. Daddy could hardly care less about his family, yet Madge still eagerly falls into his embrace, which eventually turns into fisticuffs as American Girl starts to look a lot like the Jerry Springer-led movie Ringmaster.

Sardonic tone aside, American Girl is quite entertaining. You’re never sure where it’s going to go. While the Ringmaster comparisons were instant for me, given this raw-yet-affectionate look at American lowlife — which exists in every corner of the US, believe you me, as someone well-traveled across the Midwest — this film also has a lot in common with the tragic drama Where the Heart Is. That seldom-remembered, early vehicle for Natalie Portman showed a mawkish albeit starkly realistic portrayal of an impoverished American family, who hit every bump on the road to a long, hard-knock life. The difference in American Girl is some of it is played for laughs; such as when an inmate blackmails Barbie by making her crawl on all-fours before his fellow inmates to squeal like a pig.

It’s all so absurd that it begs to be witnessed, if for no other reason than to confirm the film’s existence. I felt a sadness wash over me when watching American Girl because I know situations like the one in which Rena and her family find themselves. Few in such situations are as steadfastly optimistic as Rena, even if her sadness is oft-punctuated by suicide attempts and cutting. You can tell she doesn’t want to die. She holds out hope that her new baby will bring her the joy that’s so long been absent from her life. With Barbie dismissive of her, her brother Jay is her only source of comfort and empathy. Renfro and Malone have a true sibling chemistry where they’re always quietly looking out for one another. Consider the scene when their father gets violent towards Rena, and Jay moves to follow her when his sister runs away, only to be stopped by what can only be described as an invisible forcefield evoked by their family’s guilt trip.

American Girl‘s shortcomings reside in the fact that we’re unsure of how to feel about these characters other than sorry. Sorry for their circumstances, the parents’ poor life decisions, and a society that has failed to protect them. There’s a helplessness to this movie that resides even in the conclusion, which is tidier than expected given all the calamity we witnessed up until then. That’s the thing when you do a deep-dive into the late Brad Renfro’s filmography. You will surely not be bored.

Starring: Jena Malone, Brad Renfro, Michelle Forbes, Alicia Witt, Chris Mulkey, Clifton Collins Jr, and Erik von Detten. Directed by: Jordan Brady.