Normal Adolescent Behavior

Last updated
Normal Adolescent Behavior
Normal Adolescent Behavior.jpg
Directed byBeth Schacter
Written byBeth Schacter
Starring Amber Tamblyn
Ashton Holmes
Raviv Ullman
CinematographyHarlan Bosmajian
Edited byBenjamin Meyer
Music byCraig Deleon
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release dates
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Normal Adolescent Behavior (also known as Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2) is a 2007 American teen drama film written and directed by Beth Schacter. The film was an official selection of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

Contents

The film is the story of a group of best friends, all of whom are in a six-way polyfidelitous relationship. They feel that being with this group—and only this group—is more fulfilling and overall better than conventional teenage dating. However, Wendy (Amber Tamblyn) begins to question the arrangement after meeting the boy next door.

Normal Adolescent Behavior premiered on Lifetime Television on September 1, 2007.[ citation needed ]

Plot

Wendy, Billie, and Ann are seniors at an alternative private school; they spend all their time with fellow students Jonah, Price, and Robert. The six have been friends since elementary school and their friendship has become a six-person polyamorous relationship. They swap sex partners each week; their loyalty is to the group, not to one person.

After school orientation, Wendy meets Sean, a new senior who moved from Chicago; he finds out about her "inner geek", and she quickly recognizes a kindred spirit. Soon their friendship becomes romantic, and Wendy is torn between her genuine affection and desire for Sean, and her commitment and belief in the group.

Wendy starts to test the boundaries of her vow to her friends, and Billie realizes that she is going to have to fight to keep her best friend; which should not be a problem, since each of the teens has collected a box full of mementos from their sexual experience.

If Wendy tries to leave, Billie can destroy her reputation and relationship in a heartbeat. While Wendy is trying to decide between Sean and her friends, Wendy's younger brother Nathan meets Sean's mother, Helen, who is waiting a long three weeks to start a new job. Nathan develops a huge crush on her, and he uses his considerable cooking skills to try and woo her.

Then Wendy spends another Saturday night with the group, and she is unable to "cheat" on Sean; her hesitation is all that Billie needs to accuse her best friend. After the girls fight, Wendy takes out her frustration on a random couple who keep making out in front of her house. Ryan, hearing that Wendy is out of the group, tries to be friends, but Wendy is conflicted.

Sean and Wendy try to be a "normal" couple, but the group quickly tests the relationship: Billie puts the box of memorabilia in Sean's locker. Wendy claims she is not scared; she knows that Sean loves her. Maybe so, but when he sees the photos that document a lifetime of sexual experimentation, he is fed up and offers an ultimatum: Wendy can burn the box, leave the group, and be a normal girl, or they can break up. Wendy has gone from one ultimatum to another.

When Wendy sees Billie being hassled for being alone by other students, she wants to comfort her friend. Billie invites Wendy back to the group but she tests her—pushing Wendy to publicly ridicule Ryan, a girl who left the group last year along with her boyfriend, Aaron. Billie believes that seeing a really dark side of Wendy will keep Sean away for good, and somehow restore their group.

Wendy takes it a step further though, outing everyone's secrets; not just in front of Sean but in front of the student body. Each of the six has some skeletons in their closet, and having them all exposed is going to leave everyone isolated from their pseudofamily of six, and also ostracised within the school. The future (which Billie was planning out 10 years at the beginning of the movie) is a lot less certain - and Wendy is going to be the first one out of the gate in finding something new.

Partial cast

Alternate title

On October 16, 2007, New Line Cinema released the film on Region 1 DVD under the title Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2, despite there being no connection between Normal Adolescent Behavior and 2005's Havoc . In television airings, and many foreign DVD releases, the original title was used unchanged, including airings after the Region 1 DVD release.

In response to the name change, the director deleted both the film's promotional website, and its MySpace page. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amber Tamblyn</span> American actress

Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and author. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine at the age of 11. She followed with a starring role on the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia, portraying the title character, Joan Girardi, for which she received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Her feature film work includes roles such as Tibby Rollins from the first two The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Megan McBride in 127 Hours (2010), as well as the critically acclaimed film, Stephanie Daley opposite Tilda Swinton which debuted at The Sundance Film Festival and for which Tamblyn won Best Actress at The Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2016, she made her directorial debut with the film Paint It Black starring Alia Shawkat and based on Janet Fitch's 2006 novel of the same name. In 2021 she starred opposite Diane Lane in FX's Y: The Last Man.

Wendy Joan Matthews is a Canadian-born Australian singer-songwriter who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist. She released Top 20 hit singles in the 1990s including "Token Angels", "Let's Kiss ", "The Day You Went Away" and "Friday's Child" with Top 20 albums, You've Always Got The Blues, Émigré, Lily, The Witness Tree and her compilation, Stepping Stones. She has won six Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane she provides "extraordinary, crystal-clear vocals [...] a soulfulness that was the mark of a truly gifted singer".

<i>Footballers Wives</i> British TV series or programme

Footballers' Wives is a British television drama about fictional Premier League football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives, broadcast on ITV from 2002 to 2006. The show initially focuses on three very different couples, but from the third series onward revolves around a complex love triangle between Tanya Turner, Amber Gates, and Conrad Gates.

<i>Final Destination 3</i> 2006 American supernatural horror film

Final Destination 3 is a 2006 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wong. A standalone sequel to Final Destination 2 (2003), it is the third installment in the Final Destination film series. Wong and Glen Morgan, who worked on the franchise's first film, wrote the screenplay. Final Destination 3 stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ryan Merriman, and takes place years after the first film. Winstead plays Wendy Christensen, a high school graduate who has a premonition that a roller coaster she and her classmates are riding will derail. Although she saves some of them, Death begins hunting the survivors. Wendy realizes photographs she took at the amusement park contain clues about her classmates' death. With survivor and friend Kevin Fischer (Merriman), Wendy tries to use this knowledge to save the rest of them and ruin Death's scheme.

<i>The Legend of Billie Jean</i> 1985 American drama film by Matthew Robbins

The Legend of Billie Jean is a 1985 American action drama film, directed by Matthew Robbins. It stars Helen Slater, Keith Gordon, Christian Slater, Dean Stockwell, Richard Bradford and Peter Coyote and Martha Gehman.

Bridgette Andersen was an American child actress and child model. She starred in 1982's Savannah Smiles, for which she received her first of four Youth in Film Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Marquette</span> American actor

Chris Marquette is an American actor. He is known for his roles in such films as The Tic Code, Freddy vs. Jason, The Girl Next Door, Just Friends, Alpha Dog, and Fanboys. He is also known for his series regular roles on Joan of Arcadia and Strong Medicine.

<i>Boy Eats Girl</i> 2005 film

Boy Eats Girl is a 2005 horror-comedy film directed by Stephen Bradley and starring Samantha Mumba, produced and shot in Ireland. The plot tells of a teenage boy who comes back to life as a zombie, similar to the plot of the American film My Boyfriend's Back.

<i>The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants</i> (film) 2005 American film directed by Ken Kwapis

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 American comedy-drama film directed by Ken Kwapis from a screenplay by Delia Ephron and Elizabeth Chandler, based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Ann Brashares. It stars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively and Alexis Bledel. It follows four best friends who buy a mysterious pair of pants that fits each of them despite their differing sizes. They share the pants equally as they spend their first summer apart.

"Witch" is the third episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). It serves as the show's first regular episode after the Pilot and originally aired in the United States on March 17, 1997, on The WB. Sometimes billed as "The Witch", the episode was directed by Stephen Cragg and was the first episode not written by show creator Joss Whedon and the first of seven with no vampire in it.

Greek is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC Family from July 9, 2007, to March 7, 2011. The series follows students of the fictitious Cyprus-Rhodes University (CRU), located in Ohio, who participate in the school's Greek system.

Veep is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci. The protagonist of Veep is Selina Meyer, a fictional Vice President of the United States. The series follows Meyer and her team as they attempt to make their mark and leave a legacy but often instead become mired in day-to-day political games.

<i>Remember the Daze</i> 2007 American film

Remember the Daze, originally titled The Beautiful Ordinary, is a 2007 drama film released in theaters in April 2008. The film was directed by Jess Manafort. The plot of the movie has been described as "a glimpse into the teenage wasteland of suburbia 1999 that takes place over 24-hours, and the teenagers who make their way through the last day of high school in the last year of the past millennium."

<i>The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2</i> 2008 film directed by Sanaa Hamri

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a 2008 American comedy-drama film and a sequel to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The original cast return to star in the film. It was directed by Sanaa Hamri and written by Elizabeth Chandler, who wrote the previous film. The film is based upon the fourth novel in the book series: Forever in Blue (2007), but incorporates scenes and storylines from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (2003) and Girls in Pants (2004).

<i>Happy Campers</i> (film) 2001 film by Daniel Waters

Happy Campers is a 2001 American black comedy film written and directed by Daniel Waters and starring Brad Renfro, Dominique Swain, Jaime King, Emily Bergl, and Justin Long. The film focuses on a group of college freshmen and their experiences as summer camp counselors at the fictional Camp Bleeding Dove. The film is collectively narrated by each of the subjective counselors. It marks Waters' directorial debut, as well as the film debut of Jaime King.

<i>Shelter</i> (2007 film) 2007 American film

Shelter is a 2007 American romantic drama film produced by JD Disalvatore and directed and written by Jonah Markowitz. It stars Trevor Wright, Brad Rowe, and Tina Holmes. It was the winner of "Outstanding Film – Limited Release" at the 2009 GLAAD Media Awards, Best New Director and Favorite Narrative Feature at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, and the People's Choice Award for Best Feature at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Shelter represents the feature directorial debut of Markowitz.

<i>The Haunting in Connecticut</i> 2009 film

The Haunting in Connecticut is a 2009 supernatural horror film directed by Peter Cornwell and starring Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Martin Donovan, Amanda Crew, and Elias Koteas. The film is alleged to be about Carmen Snedeker and her family, though Ray Garton, author of In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting (1992), has publicly distanced himself from the accuracy of the events he depicted in the book. The film's story follows the fictional Campbells as they move into a house to mitigate the strains of travel on their cancer-stricken son, Matt. The family soon becomes haunted by violent and traumatic events from supernatural forces occupying the house.

<i>Love Is the Drug</i> (film) 2006 American film

Love Is the Drug is a 2006 American drama produced by Box Office Productions and Alpine Pictures. Directed by Elliott Lester, it was filmed in Los Angeles, California. It was previewed at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2006 before being released theatrically on a limited basis in Seattle, Washington on October 6, 2006. Starring John Patrick Amedori, Lizzy Caplan, and D.J. Cotrona, the film tells the story of a social outcast who becomes obsessed with a pretty wealthy girl and begins stealing drugs for her friends to be near her. It received mixed reviews from critics.

"Ultimatum" is the thirteenth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 139th episode overall. Written by Carrie Kemper, and directed by David Rogers, the episode first aired in the United States on January 20, 2011 on NBC.

Paint It Black is a 2016 American film directed by Amber Tamblyn and co-written with Ed Dougherty based on Janet Fitch's 2006 novel of the same name. The film premiered at the 2016 LA Film Festival. The story centers on how a young artist's suicide affects his mother and girlfriend, who blame each other for the tragedy.

References

  1. Sampson, Mike (August 7, 2007). "There's a Havoc 2?". JoBlo.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007.