An American Summer seems pretty stupid when you watch it. Oh god, it is so horribly trite and nauseously sentimental, it strains the eyes and ears to continue watching it. Yet, there is something entertaining about it.
The story is stupid, based on the stories of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (it is no coincidence that the characters are named 'Tom' and 'Finn', the Tom's aunt is named 'Sally,' or that they must escape a crazy attacker much like 'Enjun Joe' in Twain's novel.
Except this turns an already lame teen film into an even more ridiculous story. Sure, Tom is sent to live with his aunt for the summer, and then makes friends with a beach local named Finn. That's cool. Finn teaches him to surf, introduces him to the local girls, and they get into a bit of trouble in that boys-will-be-boys kind of pasttime. But, then you have that part modeling 'Enjun Joe,' where Tom and Finn witness this crazy drunk stab a guy at some gas station. The way he gets away and is all nervous one night and then totally cool for the rest of the week is not only stupid, but a hard pitfall to get past, especially when you're only trying to draw up that suspense at intermittent and often annoying points of the film.
I can't tell you how lame the dialogue, nevermind the entire movie really is. But, you might find yourself willing to wade through so many of those bumps in the road if you like Brian Austin Green, Brain Krause (he plays the obnoxious life guard), Michael Landen, or movies of the late 80s/early 90s no matter how idiotic they are.
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