The 25 Best Teenage Movies of All Time

by malthe-tuxen | created - 16 Jan 2018 | updated - 3 months ago | Public

My 25 personal favorite teen movies of all time.

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1. Trainspotting (1996)

R | 93 min | Drama

83 Metascore

Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.

Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd

Votes: 725,988 | Gross: $16.50M

2. The Breakfast Club (1985)

R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama

66 Metascore

Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.

Director: John Hughes | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy

Votes: 436,806 | Gross: $45.88M

3. Get Out (I) (2017)

R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

85 Metascore

A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.

Director: Jordan Peele | Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener

Votes: 697,592 | Gross: $176.04M

4. The Big Sick (2017)

R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

86 Metascore

Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.

Director: Michael Showalter | Stars: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano

Votes: 143,639 | Gross: $42.87M

5. American Graffiti (1973)

PG | 110 min | Comedy, Drama

97 Metascore

A group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.

Director: George Lucas | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith

Votes: 98,200 | Gross: $115.00M

6. Eighth Grade (2018)

R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama

85 Metascore

An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.

Director: Bo Burnham | Stars: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan

Votes: 82,514 | Gross: $13.54M

7. Clueless (1995)

PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Romance

71 Metascore

Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking scale. Seeing herself as a matchmaker, Cher first coaxes two teachers into dating each other.

Director: Amy Heckerling | Stars: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd

Votes: 246,101 | Gross: $56.63M

8. Heathers (1988)

R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime

72 Metascore

At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.

Director: Michael Lehmann | Stars: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk

Votes: 115,949 | Gross: $1.11M

9. And Your Mother Too (2001)

R | 106 min | Drama

89 Metascore

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life and each other.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Ana López Mercado

Votes: 128,913 | Gross: $13.62M

10. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

PG-13 | 94 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

84 Metascore

Two 12-year-olds, who live on an island, fall in love with each other and elope into the wilderness. While people set out on a search mission, a violent storm approaching them catches their attention.

Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray

Votes: 366,839 | Gross: $45.51M

11. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama

61 Metascore

A group of Southern California high school students are enjoying their most important subjects: sex, drugs and rock n' roll.

Director: Amy Heckerling | Stars: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus

Votes: 115,826 | Gross: $27.09M

12. Almost Famous (2000)

R | 122 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

90 Metascore

A high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand

Votes: 293,558 | Gross: $32.53M

13. Rushmore (1998)

R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

87 Metascore

A teenager at Rushmore Academy falls for a much older teacher and befriends a middle-aged industrialist. Later, he finds out that his love interest and his friend are having an affair, which prompts him to begin a vendetta.

Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Seymour Cassel

Votes: 198,053 | Gross: $17.11M

14. Dazed and Confused (1993)

R | 103 min | Comedy

82 Metascore

The adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.

Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey, Rory Cochrane

Votes: 199,747 | Gross: $7.99M

15. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

PG-13 | 103 min | Drama

67 Metascore

Charlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.

Director: Stephen Chbosky | Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd

Votes: 548,286 | Gross: $17.74M

16. Say Anything (1989)

PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

86 Metascore

A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Lili Taylor

Votes: 95,982 | Gross: $20.78M

17. Back to the Future (1985)

PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

87 Metascore

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover

Votes: 1,307,688 | Gross: $210.61M

18. Superbad (2007)

R | 113 min | Comedy

76 Metascore

Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.

Director: Greg Mottola | Stars: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader

Votes: 633,203 | Gross: $121.46M

19. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy

61 Metascore

A popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.

Director: John Hughes | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones

Votes: 386,694 | Gross: $70.14M

20. Mysterious Skin (2004)

Unrated | 105 min | Drama

74 Metascore

Two pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.

Director: Gregg Araki | Stars: Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elisabeth Shue, Chase Ellison

Votes: 76,349 | Gross: $0.70M

21. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

PG | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music

50 Metascore

Two rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.

Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin, Terry Camilleri

Votes: 141,726 | Gross: $40.49M

22. Dope (2015)

R | 103 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime

72 Metascore

Life changes for Malcolm, a geek who's surviving life in a tough neighborhood, after a chance invitation to an underground party leads him and his friends into a Los Angeles adventure.

Director: Rick Famuyiwa | Stars: Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Kimberly Elise

Votes: 89,338 | Gross: $17.51M

23. Easy A (2010)

PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

72 Metascore

When Olive lies to her best friend about losing her virginity to one of the college boys, a girl overhears their conversation. Soon, her story spreads across the entire school like wildfire.

Director: Will Gluck | Stars: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley, Dan Byrd

Votes: 418,226 | Gross: $58.40M

24. Dead Poets Society (1989)

PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama

79 Metascore

Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.

Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles

Votes: 546,642 | Gross: $95.86M

25. Juno (2007)

PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Drama

81 Metascore

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes a selfless decision regarding the unborn child.

Director: Jason Reitman | Stars: Elliot Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman

Votes: 549,420 | Gross: $143.50M



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