Laughs, Love, Embarrassment, and Bullies
Apr 23 '01
The Bottom Line A good teen movie portrays the teenage years as realistically and honestly as possible. (The funnier, the better. HA!)
While I am-- thankfully-- no longer a teenager, I do like to take a sojourn into the teenage world every now and then, vicariously, through movies. What's that, you ask? Why can't I just get a life and move on? Well, think about it: everyone has been a teenager at some point in their lives. (Or, if you haven't yet, you WILL be!) Therefore, unlike action movies or historical epics, the teen movie is clearly a genre that everyone can identify with in some way or another. So what exactly am I defining as a teen movie here? These are not necessarily all movies that teenagers should be watching (until they're 17, anyway), but, rather, movies which portray the teenage years as they really are: awkward, mean, embarrassing, surprising, and sometimes wonderful. And, ok, sometimes a few laughs never hurt anyone either!
The Breakfast Club
So, which one were you in high school? The princess, the brain, the athlete, the criminal, or the basket case? This John Hughes tale of high school cliques and hurt feelings stars Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall. More of a character study than anything, the movie reminds us that we are all-- equally-- princesses, brains, athletes, criminals and, most importantly, basket cases.
The Karate Kid
Classic story of new kid in town who is picked on for no other reason than the fact that he is, well, the new kid in town. New kid learns karate from weird old man/mentor, subsequently defeats all odds and kicks a** in the championship karate tournament. Oh yeah, and he gets the girl, too. It's highly formulaic, sure, but it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy when it comes to its highly dramatic and inevitable ending. And... who can wax a car ever again after seeing this without thinking, "wax on, wax off?"
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of this storyline. It's always bothered me that Romeo and Juliet fall in love way too fast and really, for no good reason that I could see. But, in this Baz Luhrmann version starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, the story is rivetingly and beautifully told, however hokey the actual plotline might be (sorry, Shakespeare). In this version more than any other I've seen, Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as realistic teenagers: quite young, yet mature, struggling to make the adults in their lives recognize them as individuals who are capable of making their own decisions. That is what makes Romeo and Juliet an honest-to-goodness teen movie. Isn't this yearning for autonomy at the heart of every struggle between teenagers and parents?
Pretty in Pink
Another John Hughes/Molly Ringwald collaboration. Here is the timeless rich boy/poor girl love story, with Molly Ringwald as the poor but proud Andy from the wrong side of the tracks, and the eerily non-emotive Andrew McCarthy as poor little rich boy Blane. (Blane?) Add to the story Samantha's loyal best friend and not-so-secret admirer Ducky (Jon Cryer), and you've got your classic love triangle, complicated by high school snobbery and prejudice. James Spader is particularly delicious and smarmy as Blane's best friend Steff (Steff?) And, is there anyone out there who isn't mildly upset when Andy chooses Blane over Ducky in the end?
Stand By Me
Based on a short story by Stephen King, this is a somewhat nostalgic yet mildly horrifying story of four pre-teen boys living in 1959 (back in the pre-Nintendo days when kids actually played outside in tents and treehouses) who take a hike along railroad tracks to search for the body of a missing local boy, rumored to have been hit by a train. The boys fall into the Breakfast Club stereotypes (the brain, the criminal, the nutcase, the athlete), yet they are too young to know they are not really supposed to be friends. Again, this is a character study that shows that 12 year old boys are not as shallow or as dumb as people might think. The most tragic thing about this movie, for me, was the epilogue, in which you find that the boys, once so close, eventually succumbed to rigid social boundaries and drifted apart.
Never Been Kissed
While the protagonist of this movie (Drew Barrymore) is, at 25, not exactly a teenager, she has to pretend to be one... which apparently is easier said than done. Barrymore plays Josie Gellar, a stereotypical nerd back in high school, who has to go BACK to high school ten years later and become popular in order to write a newspaper feature on modern teens. As you can imagine, this is a nightmare for Josie, who just doesn't seem to have what it takes-- even at 25-- to make it to the in crowd. While this movie is laugh-out-loud funny and also a bit ridiculous at times, it does manage to speak the larger truths of the high school experience. Not to be missed!
Sixteen Candles
Yet another Molly Ringwald/John Hughes vehicle. This time Ringwald is Samantha Baker, whose imminent 16th birthday is about to be ruined by her older sister's wedding, visiting relatives, and a nerdy freshman (Anthony Michael Hall) who just won't leave her alone. Samantha endures embarrassing moment after embarrassing moment (again, what the teenage years are really all about) but in the end, all turns out well, of course. While I think this is the weakest of the Ringwald/Hughes trilogy, it is still a classic.
The Lost Boys
Here's another new kid story, but with a horror film twist. Corey Haim and Jason Patric are brothers who have just moved to a small beach town in California after their parents' divorce. After initially being picked on for being the resident new kids, they each end up falling into very different crowds. Older brother Patric is initiated into a gang of vampires (led by a menacing Kiefer Sutherland), while younger brother Haim falls in with two very odd-- and violent-- vampire-hunting brothers (led by Corey Feldman). The subsequent cross-purposes of Haim and Patric and their new friends are pretty amusing at times. Part comedy, part cheesy horror flick, The Lost Boys is, in my mind, a classic.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Legendary and popular at his high school, Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is a con artist who can fool anyone into believing anything. Of course, Ferris is a completely far-fetched sort of character, but he's fun. He's the guy that every kid in America wanted to be like after seeing this movie. Ferris has, naturally, the inevitable pretty girlfriend, the requisite fuddy-duddy best friend, and the realistically horribly jealous sister, who is the only one who can see through his gimmicks (played by Jennifer Grey). We follow Ferris through one amazing adventure after another as he cuts school for a day, with a bumbling school administrator hot on his tail. Ferris Bueller is a modern day tall tale of sorts-- one that teenagers really want to dream can happen. And, really, who can blame them?
Real Genius
I would be remiss not to include this surreal, achingly funny, early Val Kilmer movie on my list. Kilmer leads a group of college teenage geniuses who are trying to create an impossible-to-create laser for their ill-intentioned professor/mentor. You've got all your teenage stereotypes in full effect here, including a random, somewhat mysterious guy who actually lives in a closet. This movie is definitely weird and definitely cheesy. But it's a classic 80s movie (complete with music montage in the middle, of course) and it's hysterical! For those who are familiar with Kilmer only in moody, serious types of roles, he is at top form here as the hero in this full-on teenage comedy.
Honorable Mentions That Barely Missed the List
Rock n' Roll High School (RIP, Joey Ramone)
Heathers
She's All That
Some Kind of Wonderful
Rebel Without a Cause
River's Edge
Better Off Dead ("Two dollars!")
No Oversight! Purposely Excluded From the List.
Say Anything
American Pie
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