''Gretchen'' is a 2006 film directed by Steve Collins, starring Courtney Davis as the title character. The film was Collins' first full-length feature and was based on his short film ''Gretchen & the Night Danger.''

Plot

Gretchen Finkle (Courtney Davis) is a 17-year-old high school student with a romantic obsession over Ricky (John Merriman). Her mother (

Becky Ann Baker Becky Ann Baker (née Gelke; born February 17, 1953) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles of Jean Weir on NBC comedy-drama series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000) and Loreen Horvath on HBO comedy-drama series ''Girls'' (2012� ...

) becomes so concerned about Gretchen's crush that she sends her daughter to an in-patient emotional therapy clinic.

Cast

* Courtney Davis as Gretchen Finkle * John Merriman as Ricky Marichino *

Macon Blair Macon Blair (born 1974) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, film producer, and comic book writer known for his roles in the films ''Blue Ruin'' and ''Green Room'', as well as his directorial debut ''I Don't Feel at Home in This World A ...

as Nick Rangoon *

as Lori Finkle *

Yasmine Kittles Yasmine Kittles is an American musician, actress, and performance artist. She is a member of the bands Tearist, Former Ghosts, and Low Red Center. About her stage performances, Rolling Stone has written, "Aided by her hair-raising yelp – a voic ...

as Marla Auschussler *

Stephen Root Stephen Root (born November 17, 1951) is an American actor. He has starred as Jimmy James on the television sitcom ''NewsRadio'', as Milton Waddams in the film ''Office Space'' (1999), and provided the voices of Bill Dauterive and Buck Stricklan ...

as Herb *

Peyton Hayslip Peyton may refer to: Places *Peyton, Colorado, a census-designated place in Colorado in the United States *Peyton, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community in Wisconsin in the United States Other uses *Peyton (name), including a list of people wit ...

as Miss Jennings

Production

Development

''Gretchen'' is a full-length adaptation of Steve Collins' 2004 short film ''Gretchen & the Night Danger'', which won the Jury Award for Competition Shorts at

South By Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Reception

Critical response

Sky Hirschkron, writing for ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'', stated, "Collins is perceptive to Gretchen’s status as a loser; the problem is that he offers nothing to counterbalance it, resulting in a perspective inadvertently as cruel as her tormentors". ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

''s Don Lewis commented, "''Gretchen'' is a really dry, funny and sad film ..The bond between Gretchen and her mother is a sweet touch and without it, one might think Collins was cinematically abusing Gretchen just as everyone else does throughout the film."

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, gretchen, Gretchen 2006 films American coming-of-age films American children's comedy films American romantic comedy films American musical comedy films American teen comedy films American teen musical films American fantasy comedy films Features based on short films American independent films 2006 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films