Movies about teenagers have been a staple of cinema ever since films like The Wild One and Rock Around the Clock showed 1950s filmmakers how popular films made for this untapped demographic could become. While stories both about and made for young people were a relatively new concept at the time (as were teenagers themselves, if you can believe that), they’ve since become a fixture of pop culture, especially those about high school.
What is it that makes them so appealing to viewers? Is it that most have attended, or will attend, high school, making it a relatively safe setting? Do we enjoy watching excellently dressed teenagers (usually played by actors in their 20s) make better — or at least more entertaining — choices than we did? Or is it that watching embarrassing high school moments helps us process our own awkward adolescence?
Whatever the reason, there’s something about high school that makes us tune in. Most high school movies have an element of fantasy to them, whether it be the students speak like 30-something screenwriters, or the parties are too over the top; so when one shows an authentic high school experience, it can be unexpectedly cathartic. While I love escapism as much as the next person, seeing your experiences represented on screen is a huge part of the magic of cinema. Here are 10 high school movies that truly get what it’s like.
1. Dazed and Confused (1993)
Dazed and Confused is a film documenting the last day of high school before summer (and for the graduating seniors, the rest of their lives) starts. It may be set in 1976 — complete with all the period trappings like bell bottoms and Aerosmith — but the way the teenagers act transcends time. There’s not much of a plot, but that’s part of what makes Dazed and Confused feel so realistic. It feels like the audience is just watching the action unfold on one wild summer night. One part that makes it a little too real is Matthew McConaughey’s character, who unfortunately resembles real-life dudes who continue to hang around high school girls even though it’s long past “alright, alright, alright.”
2. Superbad (2007)
Many high school movies center around a huge, life-changing party, and Superbad is one of them. While not everything about it is realistic (namely McLovin’s whole subplot with the two cops), there’s a lot it absolutely nails about being a teenager. From the way the teens swear in pretty much every sentence to the very real fear of growing apart from your friends when you go off to college, Superbad actually resembles a real-life high school experience in a lot of ways. Sure, the awkward moments are definitely played up for laughs (and there’s a lot of raunchy scenarios that might not resonate with all viewers) but some of them are oddly relatable.
3. The Breakfast Club (1985)
The ’80s saw a huge surge of teen movies, many of which were directed by John Hughes and starred members of the “Brat Pack,” a group of young actors. The Breakfast Club is one of them, and possibly the most memorable due to its fresh concept and outstanding performances by its leads. The story follows five teens while they complete an all-day detention on a Saturday (thankfully, this part’s not realistic); while they initially begin the day with preconceived beliefs about themselves and each other, they soon realize they’re all dealing with similar family and social problems.
While distinct cliques are a mainstay in many teen tales, The Breakfast Club feels more lifelike because the characters come across as real people and don’t fit in those narrow boxes, despite the stereotypes they’ve assigned each other at the beginning. The sometimes-awkward dialogue and the realistic mannerisms of the characters make The Breakfast Club feel more rooted in reality than many contemporaries of the same time period.
4. Mean Girls (2004)
Hear me out: there are plenty of things about Mean Girls that make it feel like a stylized high school film (albeit, a great one). At the same time, parts of this movie really nail what high school feels like for a lot of young girls; we may not have known Regina George, but most girls know a girl like Regina George. The way the girls subtly bully each other and talk to each other in general feels very authentic in my experience. Adolescent friendships between girls can sometimes be wrought with competition, jealousy, and insecurity, and Mean Girls does a good job of capturing that in a funny, entertaining way. The realism is the point; Tina Fey was inspired to make it after reading the nonfiction parenting book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman.
5. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Yeah, my high school experience may not have featured a young Heath Ledger serenading me on the school bleachers, but there’s a lot 10 Things I Hate About You gets right about being a teen. Similarly to The Breakfast Club, the film initially presents its lead characters as one-dimensional: Kat is an edgy man-hating feminist, Patrick is a bad boy, and Bianca is superficial and shallow. As the narrative progresses, we learn the characters are much more nuanced than we may have initially believed and have reasons for the ways they present themselves. For example, Kat is scared to be vulnerable and to confront her own trauma, while Bianca is actually much more self-assured and intelligent than we may have thought.
Being a teenager and defining your own identity is complex in ways not often explored onscreen. 10 Things I Hate About You might be a rom-com at the end of the day, but it explores the contradictions inherent to being a teenager in a relatable way.
6. Lady Bird (2017)
When you’re a teenager, you can sometimes be an asshole, especially to the ones you love. Lady Bird captures this part of adolescence so well, and you’ll feel vaguely uncomfortable during a lot of the angst-filled scenes between the mother and daughter at the center. The protagonist Christine “Lady Bird” can’t wait to get out of her home town in California and move to New York for college, where she feels like her life will truly begin. Throughout, Christine goes through growing pains like fighting (and making up) with her best friend, trying to impress people that don’t deserve her attention, and butting heads with her mother due to both their similarities and their differences. The complex relationship with her mom is something I haven’t seen represented in many teenage films, and it resonates with many Lady Bird viewers.
7. The Hate U Give (2018)
Many teen movies are based off of YA novels (think To All The Boys I Loved Before), but rarely does teen cinema approach subjects like racial identity and police brutality like in The Hate U Give, even though these topics are no less relatable for many young teenagers. The film follows 16-year-old Starr Jackson, an African-American girl who leaves her predominantly Black neighborhood every morning to attend a mostly white private school. She rarely notices any difference between her and her classmates, until her best friend is killed by a cop after failing to signal a lane change.
During the resulting media coverage and attention, Starr learns that her school friends don’t have to worry about things like code-switching or behaving the “right” way when a police officer pulls them over, and the resulting tension leads to racist viewpoints coming to light and friendship fallout. While most of these topics aren’t explored in high school movies, they are still a reality many teens face.
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
In some ways, The Perks of Being a Wallflower feels like a memory. Some parts are soft and full of longing, while other parts are as sharp and painful as if they happened the day before. Growing up is full of exciting new experiences, but also complicated realizations; the film captures this dichotomy well as it follows freshman Charlie as he navigates crippling depression amid new friendships. Parts beautifully capture the feeling of finally fitting in somewhere — like when Charlie, Sam, and Patrick rally around the song “Heroes” — while others explore the rough parts of adolescence.
That duality is part of what makes The Perks of Being a Wallflower feel so real and so captivating. Like the book before it, the film continues to resonate with audiences who remember what it felt like to be in love with someone who was dating someone else, or how it feels to be the only openly queer kid in a school of unaccepting peers.
9. The Spectacular Now (2013)
The Spectacular Now follows Miles Teller’s high school student Sutter Keely, a cool kid who keeps himself in a constantly buzzed state with the help of alochol-spiked soda. Sutter is in his senior year and is having trouble finishing a college application when he meets Aimee, another senior who likes anime and never crossed his radar. When the two finally enter a relationship, it feels realistic; the whole movie unfolds as if we’re just watching their senior year as a spectator. It hits some dramatic beats, but nothing ever feels forced or sensationalized for drama’s sake.
The teens speak like real people, and Sutter’s alcoholism is never treated like a punchline, nor is it something he magically recovers from. The Spectacular Now doesn’t end on a happy note, but it does end on a realistic (and tentatively hopeful) one.
10. The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
Being a teenager is a time of loneliness, and feeling as though no one truly understands you. The Edge of Seventeen captures this in-between state perfectly as 17-year-old Nadine deals with changing relationships and her grief over her father’s death when she was 13. Nadine feels like her mother doesn’t notice her and feels distant from her popular older brother Darian; her only comfort is her best friend Krista, but their friendship becomes strained when Krista begins dating Darian. Nadine feels out of place in her own skin, and struggles to find a true sense of belonging throughout the film.
It’s a little thing, but I like that the teen characters never look too put together in the movie. Nadine’s hair is always slightly messed up which makes the film feel even more lifelike; when she’s going through all of this, she’s not gonna have the energy to constantly look presentable.
