Top 10 Teen Movies
by Deniro68 | created - 10 Oct 2013 | updated - 10 Oct 2013 | PublicPretty self-explanatory. 10 really good teen movies that are worth anyone's time with none of the filler (IE: No Twilight, High School Musical or anything with Freddie Prinze Jr.)
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1. Dazed and Confused (1993)
R | 103 min | Comedy
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: 199,480 | Gross: $7.99M
The top of the teen movie heap. Lots of fun but with a well-placed melancholy undertone. Excellent soundtrack.
2. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
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: 115,737 | Gross: $27.09M
Classic with far more depth than the likes of Porky's. Eminently quotable with memorable characters and like Dazed sports a great soundtrack.
3. The Breakfast Club (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
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: 436,486 | Gross: $45.88M
Definitely John Hughes best teen film. Not quite as deep as some others. But looks beyond the stereotypes prevalent in many teen films of the era.
4. Heathers (1988)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime
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: 115,828 | Gross: $1.11M
Excellent teen dark comedy. While some parts may make people uncomfortable in the post Columbine world, this one still features Christian Slater's best performance.
5. Say Anything (1989)
PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
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: 95,925 | Gross: $20.78M
Cameron Crowe Classic.
6. Brick (2005)
R | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, Emilie de Ravin, Meagan Good
Votes: 110,048 | Gross: $2.06M
HS set film noir that's perceptive in its portrayal of teens.
7. Election (1999)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Romance
A high school teacher meets his match in an over-achieving student politician.
Director: Alexander Payne | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Loren Nelson, Chris Klein
Votes: 104,522 | Gross: $14.88M
Uses the tropes of the HS movie to make larger points about politics.
8. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy
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: 386,422 | Gross: $70.14M
John Hughes classic of teen rebellion and anti-authoritarianism.
9. Rushmore (1998)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
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: 197,962 | Gross: $17.11M
Wes Anderson adds his to the list of great teen movies.
10. Pump Up the Volume (1990)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Mark runs a pirate radio station and causes an uproar when he speaks his mind and enthralls fellow teens.
Director: Allan Moyle | Stars: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Anthony Luke Lucero, Andy Romano
Votes: 31,160 | Gross: $11.54M
The Teen version of Oliver Stone's Talk Radio.
Runners Up:
Clueless
Weird Science
Real Genius
Grease
Mean Girls
American Pie (just barely)
One's Best Avoided:
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Not Another Teen Movie
Drive Me Crazy
Can't Hardly Wait
Sleepover
All the Twilight Movies
Any High School Musical Movie
Anything with Freddie Prinze Jr.
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