| Teenage Dirtbag | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Regina Crosby |
| Produced by | Chris Aagaard Seth Caplan |
| Written by | Regina Crosby |
| Starring | Scott Michael Foster Noa Hegesh Regina Crosby |
| Cinematography | Armando Ballesteros |
| Editing by | Andrea Trillo |
| Distributed by | Vivendi Entertainment Lightyear Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | October 20, 2009 |
| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Teenage Dirtbag is a 2009 drama starring Scott Michael Foster, Noa Hegesh and written and directed by Regina Crosby.[1] The film is distributed by Vivendi Entertainment and Lightyear Entertainment.
Contents |
In Teenage Dirtbag pregnant Amber Lange is alone and dealing with struggles. When going to the local IGA store, she learns from one of her old classmates who works there that a boy she once knew named Thayer died in a river recently. When going back to her car, she remembers their story from high school. Back in high school, Amber was a popular cheerleader living a normal life as it seems. In a biology class they are dissecting a fetal pig. When it's time to clean up from the dissection, Thayer Mangeres, a classmate who always sits beside her because of their last names are close alphabetically, asks people around their table how much they will bet him if he drinks the juice from the fetus. As everyone is putting their money on the table, Amber is completely disgusted. Thayer then tells everybody to keep their money, implying to them that he won't drink it, but he says he will for free. He drinks the whole cup and everyone is surprised, but nauseous, especially Amber, later telling Thayer that she thinks nothing of him. Ever since that day, he harasses her every time he gets the chance to. The next year they are put in Creative Writing and Study Hall together. Thayer doesn't come to either of the classes because he was skipping school that day to get high with his friend. For the next couple of days, it's hard for Amber and Thayer to get along. In cheer leading practice Amber is doing her stunts really well with a fellow classmate, but the coach pulls her aside telling her she will have to switch to another stuntman who is not very good. Amber is upset by this, thinking her life is starting to unravel with both this situation and the one with Thayer. At a party that night, he eats fishes from a bowl that she caught earlier that day and everyone is watching, but warning Amber who did not know about this. Very angry, Amber pushes him and continually does asking him why he is such a freak. The next day in Writing Class, Thayer continues to harass Amber, as a new girl who is stereotyped as a punk named Tabitha just moved from California, walks in the class and is assigned to a seat by them. Eventually Tabitha and Thayer form a friendship, and knowing that he does not like Amber and bullies her, she does the same. By the soda machine, Thayer is trying to make Amber jealous by licking Tabitha's neck, unbeknownst to Tabitha that he is doing this to make Amber envy, and thinks he actually likes her. When Amber walks away peeved, he stops doing Public Display of Affections with Tabitha, clearly wanting Amber's attention all along. After school, Thayer walks home where is on the other side of the tracks. He walks in and his father shouts angrily that he got a call from the school today about his actions, (he drew a face naming it Amber and showing it to her who showed it to the Study Hall monitor) and does not want another call from them. Thayer is frightened by his dad, and his father calls in Thayer's brother Dooley, who physically abuses him, to hold him down while his dad whips him. On the same night Amber walks in to her home, which is completely opposite of Thayer's house, with no one there. She opens the fridge to get her dinner as it seems that her parents are never there, showing that Amber and Thayer have something in common - they have a difficult home life from the personality they show at school. In Creative Writing Thayer starts to show his emotions in his poems, and Amber realizes this because she feels exactly the same way. As they progress, Amber offers Thayer an 'extra' packed orange from her bookbag. Thayer begins the start of their friendship by asking Amber questions through writing notes to each other in his notebook. As their friendship grows, they joke and listen to music together. Thayer begins falling in love with Amber the more they talk. During Creative Writing, Thayer sends Amber signals in his poems. As Amber hears these poems in class, she knows they are about her. She's not sure if she feels the same about him because of their different social groups, although she is having strange dreams of kissing him. Thayer and Amber's lives and homes are different, even though they are both experiencing trouble. Thayer is struggling at home with his family. His dad beats him and drunken brother does the same, but his sister Jeannie is very compassionate toward him as he is the same to her. Amber is mostly alone when her parents are gone doing unexplained things. At the sandbar one night, Amber has sex with a school friend as Thayer watches her secretly. Feeling betrayed, Thayer writes another paper about Amber but this time, it's about the night before. He starts becoming rude again and is harassing her verbally again but this time in his poem. When the teacher realizes that he's insulting one of the students, he sends Thayer outside with him. Tabitha talks to Amber about last night saying everyone knows about it and it's going around. She tells Amber that Amber is jealous of her and Thayer's "relationship". Amber, pissed off, takes out hers and Thayer's notebook and throws it onto Tabitha's desk. After looking at a few pages, Tabitha dramatically leaves the classroom. Everyone rushes to see the notebook talking about how they feel sorry for Amber, thinking he was a creep for sending her poems hinting he has feelings for her, as Amber just sits there. Her life turns back to normal because she doesn't associate with him anymore. Until in the hallway Thayer harasses Amber yelling to her why she gave away their notebook. After being nose to nose, literally, Thayer walks away without an answer from her, as Amber yells at him "Because I hate you!" Thayer eventually forgives Amber but tries to impress her again, after Tabitha mischievously attempts to spill purple nail polish in Amber's book bag, when he grabs her wrist, as he still seems to care about Amber despite her giving away the notebook. After eating 4 brown tablets which Thayer tells Amber they're drugs, which she doesn't believe, Thayer convulses foam and has a seizure on the floor. The whole class has to leave the room and Amber watches through the window on the door as Thayer goes unconscious. After the overdose, Thayer never returned to school. Amber's world returned to normal. After graduation, Amber runs into Thayer at the grocery store. He tells her that he has changed now, and is a Mormon. He also lets her know that he will be leaving to go on a Mission trip in Ecuador. A couple of months later at the beach, Amber sees him again, but he is not Mormon anymore. Thayer's feelings start to return for her once again, but she declines because she is engaged now. That night Amber, her fiance, and her friends go see a movie. Thayer happens to see her in the same theater. Amber leaves for the restroom and Thayer follows. In the girls restroom Thayer walks in and asks for her to say what he has been waiting for since he fell in love with her, but Amber never understood. Amber rushes out of the bathroom leaving Thayer. That was the last time they ever saw each other. The story switches back to the present, with pregnant Amber dressing to go meet Thayer's sister Jeannie, as she is the only one who seems to be living. They greet each other, but Jeannie is not very hospitable until Amber says she knew her brother Thayer. Later, Amber writes in the notebook in the school's study hall room where she once sat with Thayer. She closes the notebook and slides it to the other seat where Thayer used to sit, which is now an empty seat. In the final scene, Amber is lying in the hospital with her newborn son. Jeannie is standing in the doorway looking in at Amber and her child. On Amber's new son's hospital bracelet, is the name Thayer.