Gretchen (film)

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) 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 as Nick Rangoon
 * Becky Ann Baker as Lori Finkle
 * Yasmine Kittles as Marla Auschussler
 * Stephen Root as Herb
 * Peyton Hayslip as Miss Jennings

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.

Critical response
Sky Hirschkron, writing for Stylus Magazine, 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'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."