﻿ Fifteen and Pregnant (1998) Kirsten Dunst, Park Overall, David Andrews, Julia Whelan, Daniel Kountz, Margot Demeter, Katee Sackhoff Movie Review

Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)   3/53/53/53/53/5

Kirsten Dunst in Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)

Kirsten Dunst in Teen Pregnancy Shocker

Tina Spangler (Kirsten Dunst - Small Soldiers) was almost fifteen and thought that life was good as she had a boyfriend who she was very much in love with. But after sleeping with him he then turns cold towards her and then shortly after turning fifteen she discovers that she is pregnant. After turning to her mother she has to decide what to do; have an abortion, put the baby up for adoption or try and raise the child like her best friend who is already a teen mum. But maybe being pregnant will lead to a surprising outcome for her parents Evie (Park Overall - Sparkler) and Carl (David Andrews), who are separated.

I've lost count of the number of movies I have watched which have been about teen pregnancy or being teen parents and most of them have been made for TV. And now I can add "Fifteen and Pregnant" to the list, another teen pregnancy movie but one which features a young Kirsten Dunst as the teenager who discovers she is pregnant and facing some tough choices. The thing about "Fifteen and Pregnant" is that whilst it has some story elements unique to it, such as the parent's situation, it also covers a lot of the same ground as other similar movies when it comes to Tina facing the consequences of her actions.

Park Overall in Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)

What that means is that in "Fifteen and Pregnant" we get Tina reluctantly agreeing to having sex with her cool boyfriend, then we have Tina telling her parents that she is pregnant and then choosing what to do. Along the way we have such typical scenes from Tina dealing with morning sickness, to issues with her brother and sister who are angry at her for messing their lives up. But we also have added elements such as Tina's pregnancy bringing her estranged parents closer together as they try to support her and Tina's sister half being angry at her but also being jealous of the attention she is getting. That is the reason why "Fifteen and Pregnant" works because rather than just focusing on Tina's pregnancy it takes us into the middle of the family situation and sees how everyone is affected by it.

What "Fifteen and Pregnant" also has going for it is a good cast with Kirsten Dunst delivering a strong performance as Tina, giving her that sense of being overwhelmed by her life quickly becoming complicated out of control. But we also have Park Overall who delivers a grounded performance as her mother Evie, showing everything from the naivety of not knowing what her daughter is up to, to the difficulty of being separated from her husband.

What this all boils down to is that "Fifteen and Pregnant" is another movie which deals with the subject of teen pregnancy and as such covers some familiar ground. But it is one which rather than just focusing on the situation from the teen's point of view takes a wider approach to look at the difficult period for an entire family.