It’s hard to go past a great feel-good nostalgic romantic comedy – and better yet if it reimagines our high school teenage experience as a fun, funny, carefree moment in time where everything is possible, everyone is kissable, and the biggest problem anyone faces is who to ask to prom night…
Grease (1978)
Who cares that, for most of the cast, their teenage years were long behind them: it didn’t stop Beverley Hills 90210, did it? With a soundtrack that never gets old, and a cutesy Cinderella love story with hot rods, heaps of choreography, and more saucy sexual innuendo jokes than even Rizzo could bite with relish, Grease continues to stand the test of time - which is peachy keen, jellybean.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
It can take years of adulthood to finally realize what Molly Ringwald et al worked out after one day of detention: we’re all a brain and an athlete and a basketcase and a princess and a criminal at heart. The teen dynamic of relationships and rapport and repartee and resolving ennui is wonderfully captured, and the sharply funny always balances the touchy-feel-good.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
That Matthew Broderick could turn this arrogant, self-concerned, outrageous character into the teen we, his friends, his peers and his parents all love and want to be is testament to his charming, charismatic performance, buoyed up by a stellar cast and hilarious action script. Rewatch John Hughes at his finest as soon as possible, because life moves pretty fast (and) if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it…
Better Off Dead (1987)
When John Cusack was the king of the teen movie, this underdog tale was gold, and it has remained high on the high school best of ever since. Full of quotable quotes, classic minor character cameos, and plenty of slapstick fun, you could not care less that you see the denoument from a mile away. Make sure you cough up your two dollars, as well.
The Lost Boys (1987)
It had the Coreys, Keifer Sutherland at his most cool, Diane Keaton for class, and teenage vampires on motor bikes. It simply couldn’t go wrong. One of the best vampire films ever is also one of the teen flick greats, with its snappy dialogue, pacy double plot and impeccable culture of cool even though one thing about living in Santa Carla you never will stomach is all the damn vampires…
Heathers (1988)
Comedy doesn’t get much blacker than this grimly funny film that delves into the teenage psyche where social cliques and personal slights can provoke murderous intentions. Christian Slater channels Jack Nicholson and Winona Ryder is at her wide-eyed gothic best as violence is brought in to solve high school problems. Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, darling.
Clueless (1995)
Jane Austen’s Emma was never so air-headedly adorable as when Alicia Silverstone worked her charm in this nicely self-conscious comedy about the sheltered joy of being a privileged teenager. Searching for a boy in high school may indeed be as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie, but thank goodness that won’t stop Cher and her posse from seeking out a little romance before the film is through.
Can’t Hardly Wait (1998)
A coming-of-age romantic classic as a who’s who of 90s teen stars muddle through a party evening of mayhem, smooching and Amanda-gazing. There may be plenty of women and trolley cars in the sea, but few movies that can manage a witty multiplex plot as adroitly as this. Watch out for our favourite klepto’s cameos…
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Another reworking of a classic text into a teen flick: this time it’s Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, though what the film actually says about the need to read and the power of language with its taut snappy dialogue is more profound than you might think. Enchanting ensemble all round, but also a poignant reminder of how much we miss beautiful Heath Ledger. Delightful – even if you don’t have a Prada backpack.
Bring It On (2000)
Ready? Okay! Deliciously self-satirizing, Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku are superb, and the dynamic routines and nice moral twist are only out-sparkled by the script’s cheerleading repartee. Spirit fingers at the ready: a decade later, Bring It On is still sassy and sexy and somersaults of fun.
Some of these actors we never saw again, while some moved on to science-fiction, dramas, horror films, fantasy flicks, romantic movies or Oscar-winning roles, but they all left a legacy of well-loved comedies that remind us of all the things that are worth loving and reliving from high school.
Kim Edwards - Dr. Kim Edwards holds a PhD in literature, and when not teaching English, drama, cabaret or writing, she is a freelance writer, scholar, ...
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