Fifteen and Pregnant

'Fifteen and Pregnant' is a made-for-TV film clearly aimed at warning teenage girls (and boys) that unprotected sex is a big no-no but while it is an enjoyable film in itself about how families must pull together, it just isn't hard-hitting enough to get the message across.

Kirsten Dunst is in the role of fifteen-year-old Tina, who ends up pregnant after losing her virginity to her lay-about boyfriend. Of course, despite his promises, he quickly takes off as Tina's bump begins to grow leaving her to cope with the dual difficulties of teen pregnancy and single motherhood. Meanwhile, Tina's family are left reeling with the news that their teenage daughter is about to make them grandparents.

The film did raise the interesting point of how younger children feel when their teenage siblings fall pregnant as well as depict the shock, shame and worry parents are left languishing in at such news. However, it would have been far more effective as a teaching tool had Tina had a harder time of things (she was lucky that she had a supportive family, something not all teen mothers will have) and had we been able to see her cope with the sleepless nights and endless crying when the baby finally arrived.

That said, it would probably was quite effective in some way in showing teens of the Ninties that a baby at fifteen is not like caring for a doll. However, to be quite honest, to have an impact in today's schools, Tina is a bit old for a teenage mother. I imagine in a couple of years time, this film will be re-made with a pre-teen moppet cast in the role of Tina and be re-named 'Twelve and Pregnant'.

This is a pretty good movie and an excellent movie to show to teenagers who thinks they are ready for a baby.

Fifteen & Pregnant stars Kirsten Dunst (Interview With The Vampire) as Tina, a 15 year old girl who thinks she has the perfect life. Parents she occasionally gets along with, a lot of friends to hang out with, and a boyfriend she loves and who acts like he loves her back. Then the unexpected happens. She gets pregnant. Then her whole life is changed forever. Her mother played by Park Overall (Empty Nest) doesn't want to give it up for adoption but isn't too thrilled with the idea of her keeping it either. Her father, who is trying to be forgiven for an affair is supportive of Tina, mainly cause he doesn't really know what else to do. Her brother and sister are embarrassed by her. Her so called boyfriend is more like a wolf in sheep's clothing. She has a friend, who is single and a little older than her and has a baby. Her friend can see Tina has no idea what she's getting herself into.

As I've said, the movie is a good movie to show to a teenager who thinks they are ready for a baby. The performances are good, especially from Park Overall and Kirsten Dunst. I only have two problems with this movie. First is that none of the characters are very likable. Even Tina the main character. She's a real bitc* to anyone who looks at her wrong and I had a hard time feeling sorry for her and feeling anything for her really. I wanted to slap her a few times. Park Overall's character is also a bit hard to like.

The second thing I don't like is that the first hour and a half of the movie is very believable but during the last 1/2 hour it loses its realism and goes for the happy ending where everyone is suddenly happy and everyone is one big perfect happy family. It's as if the past hour and a half never happened and everyone changes personalities overnight.

Grade wise I'd have to give it a C+ for lack of sympathy for any of the characters and the ending.

I first watched this film when i was ten years old and i loved it. i love babies and anything to do with babies. I now do health and social care and i realised what percentage of teenage girls actually get pregnant in a year. where i live in northolt we the second highest teenage pregnancy rate in england. But the main reason i liked this film is because it looks at what teenage mums or mums-to-be go through during or after their pregnancy. Fifteen and Pregnant also involved the good and bad possibilities that can happen and i think it showed any teenage girl who watch this film what to expect and will in the future. I would recommend this film to my friends. And it's one of those films that you watch over and over again. To be honest i watched it two days ago on true movies on sky. I think that more true stories like this should be shown in schools to cut down on pregnancy rates across the world. It may help, it may not, but we can try.

i found "fifteen and Pregnant" to be a real moving story, also very true as to what would happen if a young girl was to get pregnant. Kirsten is a fantastic actor, especially in heart moving films like this one. her boyfriend is a drop kick and you can tell from the very beginning that he wont stick around, also the way he has the nerve to show up at the birth with his new girlfriend after just dumping Tina! very unappealing!

but overall this movie will make you laugh, cry and sometimes get mad all at the same time. i put this as one of my most favorite movies yet. Fantastic Film!

This is just an all-right movie. Nothing great, but interesting enough to watch. The cast, plot, and writing was all good, but it kept getting off track.

If this movie is about a teen pregnancy, than it should stay focused on that topic. A couple of different situations were played around with. Evie and Cal's failed marriage was a subject that should have been left out. Rachel's wanting to live with her grandmother was another topic that had no effect on the main one. It was just an easy way to fade her out during the final months of Tina's pregnancy. Stay on the topic mentioned in the title, and we might be okay.

The cast was very well put together and they worked really good as a fictional family. Kirsten Dunst was excellent in the role of Tina Spangler. I think that she's the kind of person where you can get adjusted to her in any role. As always, she is why this movie is good. Park Overall, was very good as well. She added a certain mother-like atmosphere to the movie. Dave Andrews, who kind of stood back, played a believable parent also. Julia Whelan and Zach Sherman added their parts of sibling rivalry when it was necessary.

Another thing that I didn't like about this movie is that there were too many characters. The Spangler family, grandma, Melody, Jane, Laurie, and Ray, were all given parts to where they were important parts in the movie, but it was just overcrowded. The main characters like Tina, Evie, and Cal are okay, but everyone else sort of popped up whenever those three needed to talk to somebody. Tina's boyfriend, Ray, was obviously a very important part, but he could have had a bigger role with more lines.

The writing was enjoyable to watch, but it still had something wrong with it. Maybe it was the long scenes with no point to them. The scenes with Evie and Cal were especially unnecessary.

Overall, this was a well designed, low budget movie that had its faults but was still good. Since this movie is very real, it would be good to show to teenagers who think that they are ready for a child. I'm pretty sure that they might change their mind if they knew what comes along with having a baby. There's a couple of things that I would change about Fifteen and Pregnant, but I still liked it. It was a good TV movie.