Alicia I love this movie so much

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Alicia Okay, I'm 15 and I picked this to watch with my parents cause I thought it looked funny and I figured I'd be able to relate to the teenagers in it. I was SO wrong. The comic traits that are supposed to be laughable are just embarrassing. The characters are extremely underdeveloped and the script was obviously written by someone who's never spoken to a teenager before, because the 4 teenage characters acted like kids between the ages of 6 and 10. Even if the characters had been even relatively accurately portrayed, the acting in this movie is genuinely terrible. Not worth the time to watch.

Steve Pulaski Sam is a character who hates the idea of growing up, and, even as he approaches his mid-thirties, he clings onto the idea that he is a musician that will get his big break any minute from now. His ideology is the kind teenagers exiting high school or entering college possess, but then go onto approach a life-realization that they're living in a fantasy. Sam hasn't received such an awakening, and this makes for the perfect coming of age film centered on a character that solemnly loathes the idea.Sam is played by Mark Duplass, who, consistent readers will know, is quickly becoming one of my favorite male leads. After getting kicked out by his girlfriend, Sam crashes at his aunt's home in upstate Seattle (Melissa Leo) where she lives with her teenage son Oliver (Bret Loehr). When her divorced husband calls off the camping trip between him and Oliver, Sam feels almost obligated to take his dad's place and, after some convincing by his aunt, reluctantly takes Oliver and his best friend Jake (Carr Thompson) on a replacement camping trip.In a Hollywood film, the formula that would prove prophetic is that the three would be met with The Great Outdoors-style problems, wreak havoc on mother nature, have their actions prove reckless and almost inconsequential to nature and man, and walk away learning just about nothing. Thankfully, this is not a Hollywood film. It's a subtle, successful merge between a "mainstream" independent movie and the grassroots of comprehensive mumblecore (another recent example of the hybrid would be Colin Trevorrow's Safety Not Guaranteed).Mumblecore is often characterized by the naturalistic flow of its dialog and the inherent messiness of its videography and editing. Here, it has that polished look, while maintaining naturalistic dialog executed wonderfully by actors lacking a household name (with the possible exception of Leo). By the middle of the second half, I felt I kind of knew were this was going, yet was still liking every minute of it. It is then the film introduces an unexpectedly daring twist that catches one off-guard and ushers in a plethora of story possibilities, resulting in a pleasant maturity for the cast and crew. Writer Craig Johnson doesn't cop out when the going gets tough, but forces his characters to buckle down and grow up within the last half hour of the film.True Adolescents brilliantly showcases the maturity of a genre and its characters, by, as always, giving them a brutally honest slice of life and utilizing small events as the film's main conflicts. The character actors are wonderful, the scenery of the Olympic Peninsula is gorgeous, the scenery, especially in the woods, is thrilling and inviting, and all of this makes for a wonderfully earnest debut from writer Craig Johnson, who may rank next to the Duplass brothers, Andrew Bujalski, and Lynn Shelton as the best mumblecore directors in the business.Starring: Mark Duplass, Bret Loehr, and Carr Thompson. Directed by: Craig Johnson.

MartinHafer Mark Duplass stars as Sam--a loser who, in his mid-30s, has no home and no job....but he is in a band! When he moves in with his aunt and her family, he mostly sits around doing nothing--that is, until he gets drafted into taking his 14 year-old cousin and his friend on a camping trip. Now considering all three have exactly the same maturity level, you know things can't go well with good 'ol Sam in charge! And, not surprisingly, that's exactly what happens. Can Sam somehow, for once, short some maturity and get them back safely? Or, will they be eaten by bears and squirrels and hippies in the Pacific Northwest? This is an unusual film in many ways. It is NOT formulaic but at the same time I am sure a lot of folks WON'T like it very much because it does not have a happy ending. I respect it, however, because it avoided formula and because the filmmakers did a good job of actually capturing the essence of 14 year-olds. Instead of the Hollywood way where you get a 20-something to play a 14 year-old, these really WERE kids that age. And, they talked like kids that age--not like Hollywood versions of kids! I only recently retired from teaching and know how 14 year-olds talk--and they DO talk like the boys in "True Adolescents". Worth seeing even if the film seems very incomplete by its conclusion.

nathanschubach I thought the movie was light-hearted and cute for what it was. A screwed-up Gen-Xer type who, at age 34, is still without a real job, and, instead of remaining a selfish miscreant while living with his aunt, he decides to take up the offer to take his cousin and his cousin's pal on a camping trip for the weekend. The movie really is about male-bonding with someone other than a father figure from a younger age perspective, and over the course of this weekend, these two boys learn a bit about girls, themselves, camping, and looking out for one another. Mark Duplass plays a great role as the Gen-Xer type who is trying to find out what to make of his life. There were interesting plot turns and elements that remind me of "Stand By Me" or something. It features a lot of hipper, Washington State-based music, too (close to those of the 90's, the audience is even reminded of the Seattle Sub>Pop movement).I didn't care much for the ending, but it's the trend of the times right now to leave things open-ended for some characters. And I didn't like the fact that they wasted so much footage trying to find the pal for the entire day. I didn't feel it needed that much attention to the hardship of that feat. With that being said, though, that's the worst part of the movie. I wouldn't buy it for my collection per se, but I do think its worth the rent. 6 stars.