| With the sole purpose of watching every Michelle movie in her Filmography, the hunt began to find those obscure lost movies of her.
One of the first, and easiest, to find movies, is the Drama film "American Girl"
This movie revolves about a young teenage girl, Rena Grubb, who tries to cope with the difficulties of being a teenager in a Trailer Camp.
Her father, John, is serving two life sentences in prison, her mother, Madge, played by Michelle, has two jobs to earn enough money, her elder half-sister, Barbie, is a first class bitch, and her elder brother, Jay, tries to accept the fact that he's gay.
The movie starts of with Rena trying to hang herself from a tree branch.
This immediately sets the tone of the movie, as her suicide attempt fails horribly.
At home, nobody notices any strange behavior of her, because everyone else around her is too busy leading their own lives.
To top all that, she has become pregnant.
Rena has a boyfriend who only dates her for sex,
and does not want to be seen with her in public.
Every time they date, she has to hide in his car until he drives to a remote location.
But the guy leaves immediately when he finds out that for once,
Rena doesn't want to have sex with him.
Her brother is the only person who protects her as much as he can, although this doesn't go any further than shouting "RUN" to her, when her mother finds out about the pregnancy of her youngest daughter.
Feeling completely abandoned by her family and so called friends,
she asks her mother to go to the Annual Picknick in the prison where her dad is serving his sentence.
Her mother says no at first, but after a long discussion, and another failed suicide attempt with an overdose of Vitamin C, she finally gives in, and orders her kids to fill a picknick basket.
This is the moment where Michelle shines as the Trailer Trash mother, who tries desperately to get her life on track, and give her kids a more promising future than she herself had.
Once arrived in prison, the entire plan falls apart, as her father is only interested in having sex with his wife, Madge, or a game of rugby when Rena is telling her about her life.
This is a reasonable short version of the story, without spoiling so major plot-twists and events (and believe me, of those there are plenty), but also giving a good explanation about what kind of movie this is.
Now, the critic part of the review.
This movie is actually quite good! Although, you mustn't take it really serious, as if it's a true story, but see it more as a dramatic comedy. It has some good dialogue, decent acting, and some good moments at which you feel emotionally attached to the characters.
The movie doesn't try to be more than it is, and that's a pleasant change from the many movies who do try to be more.
Michelle, the most important part of the movie, acts great as the stressed mother who tries to raise her kids on her own, and you really feel for her as she gives in to some of her biggest fears or worries, for the best of her children.
Also, Michelle is the only one who can pull off this Cherry Dress:
And everything she does, including some very, VERY disturbing scenes that you just have to see for yourself, she does quite sexy, like eating a sandwich!
The end of the movie is a real feel-good ending, that is satisfying, and even quite funny with some of the best jokes in the movie.
The bad part of the movie is the insanely emo Rena, who tries to kill herself with everything she can lay her hands on. From stockings to vitamines, from plastic sporks to broken glass!
Though, this doesn't ruin a movie that serves for a good Michelle evening.
Just grab your popcorn, maybe some tissues if you're an emo kid, and just enjoy the wonderfull Michelle, in some of the craziest scenes you´ll ever see her do!
American Girl rating: 7-
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329297/
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