Those crazy kids. Not a care in the world, except boys, girls, popularity, friends, peer-pressure, clothes, dating, parents, school and who's having the party Saturday night and whether or not you're cool enough to be invited. It's a tough life, really. So let's show those teens some love. Not creepy love. Just good love. Give me your Top 5 Teen movies. Here are mine in no particular order.
1. Sixteen Candles The quintessential teen movie. No teen movie list would be complete without it.
2. Superbad Just when you thought the teen movie was dead, here comes this gem. A good reflection of today's teenager that's just the right balance of cynical and softy. And no I'm not McLovin.
3. Heathers The anti-Hughes movie. All the cynicism without the sap. It's a good addition to the mix.
4. Weird Science The teen comedy taken to absurdity, and yet it still all works. I quote this movie constantly which keeps me out of most intelligent social circles.
5. Better Off Dead The beginning of Cusak's brilliant career really started taking shape with this dumb comedy. Fear the paperboy.
I love teen movies. My favorite as a teen (I was very precocious) was
ReplyDelete1. Franco Zefferelli's Romeo & Juliet (sigh ... I love you, Mercutio!)
of course. When I became a rebellious womanlette it was
2. Joe (parents are pigs who kill their children!)
When I became an adult, I could look back on the teen years with humor. Therefore, the final three are the most wisely funny teen films I know.
3. American Graffiti
4. Valley Girl
5. Say Anything
In no order.
ReplyDeleteBreakfast Club- the ultimate
Teen Wolf- A turd that has stood the test of time.
Scream- questionable
Ferris Buellers Day Off- classic.
Dazed and confused- even though i didnt grow up in this time....many of the same experiences took place at my HS.
Scream is a bit iffy. Since it falls into the horror genre is it still okay to be considered a teen movie?
No doubting the greatness that is Better of Dead; that's one mad, brilliant film.
ReplyDeleteI would have had The Sure Thing and Ferris Beuller's Day Off on here as well.
God I love those great crappy films.
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ReplyDeleteMarilyn,
ReplyDeleteAmerican Graffiti and Valley Girl are excellent additions. Say Anything was a favorite, but I don't feel it has held up as well over time.
garrett,
Scream is not questionable. It's a great teen movie that I completely forgot about.
Damn, and I completely forgot about Dazed and Confused. That probably should have edged out Heathers
ibetolis,
The Sure Thing almost made the list. The scenes in the car with Tim Robbins are classic.
moviezzz,
I knew that Can't Buy Me Love would make it.
I count Piper amongst my closest friends. So I need to call BS on him from time to time. His favorite all-time movie is Breakfast Club. How it didn't make his favorite teen list is a mystery bigger than The Sixth Sense.
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteYou only think I love Breakfast Club. But I couldn't bump Sixteen Candles for it.
1. Better Off Dead
ReplyDelete2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
3. Heathers
4. Clueless (i'm keepin' it real!)
5. Superbad
You've already knocked out a good list there, but let me through in some late editions...
ReplyDeletePretty In Pink
The Outsiders
Three O'Clock High
Splendor In The Grass
Ginger Snaps
OH!....
ReplyDelete.... and Carrie !
Piper - I have watched Say Anything over and over. I think it holds up. Just a matter of taste, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteFox - Excellent suggestions, though I've never heard of 3 O'Clock High.
I'd add The Virgin Suicides, too.
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ReplyDeleteI still love teen movies as much as I did as a teen. It's hard to choose. But I probably quote Heathers the most still.
ReplyDelete1. Heathers
2. Donny Darko
3. Mean Girls
4. American Pie
5. Dazed and Confused
Marilyn,
ReplyDeleteYou absolutely have to see 3 O'Clock High. Phil Janoue's first film and it's excellent. And I'm sorry I didn't include it on mine.
And Sarah,
Donnie Darko is a great choice. Damn. Should have thought about that as well.
Piper and Marilyn -
ReplyDeleteI rewatched Three O'Clock High recently and - I didn't notice this as a kid - but the cinematography is CRAZY in that film. Barry Sonnenfeld does it, so it kinda feels like a Coen Bros. teen film. Bizarre, very bizarre.
p.s. Piper, where is that crazy (that's a compliment) teacher that usually posts here? I think I'm starting to miss her.
I would add Can't Hardly Wait, Mean Girls and The Breakfast Club
ReplyDeleteAHHHHHH!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI was always partial to Martha Coolidge's two best entries into the genre: VALLEY GIRL and REAL GENIUS. I always felt that she had real affection for her nerd and outsider protagonists unlike say REVENGE OF THE NERDS.
ReplyDeletePlus, the ending of RG, with all of our heroes and the neighborhood kids having a blast in a house/yard FULL of popcorn was such a wonderful image.
Fox,
ReplyDeleteAsk and you shall receive.
Moviezzz,
Yeah, but look at Sonnenfelds career now. But I guess compared to Joanous, it's much better.
J.D.,
Real Genius is another great addition. Thank you.
I would add to the already mentioned Heathers:
ReplyDeleteRiver's Edge -- Dark but better at showing alienation and ennui than any other teen film, except...
Zero Day / Elephant: Hard to choose between the two, I recommend both. Zero Day is perhaps more nihilistic, Elephant more ironically beautiful.
Where the Boys Are (1960): The strangest, most serious Beach Party-type film, mixing whimsical romance with date rape. Soapy to be sure, and totally absorbing. Connie Francis is great, George Hamilton is tan, but Paula Prentiss as Tuggle Carpenter is beyond crushworthy.
And just so you don't think I'm all doom and gloom:
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, my #1 teen film for sure. Though this one also has some very dark undercurrents... in particular, the loss of virginity as serious and painful, and the whole teen pregnancy / abortion issue.
I wasn't a John Hughes fan growing up, and I'm certainly not one now, with the exception of the first Vacation movie.
godard,
ReplyDeleteCouldn't stand Elephant. Big fan of Van Sant, but felt this was lazy filmmaking.
Fast Times is a great choice.
I have to give a shout out to Godard.
ReplyDelete"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is the quinnesential Teen Movie.
Great call!
No order:
ReplyDeleteBetter Off Dead
Ferris
Dazed
Clueless
Fast Times
Consider it the conglomeration of everyone else's picks.
Clueless
ReplyDeleteDazed and Confused
The Breakfast Club
Better Off Dead
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Great list. I loved all 5 of these.
ReplyDelete