I don't know that I could rank a top 5. Fast Times is obviously my #1, Ferris is up there, as is American Pie. Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, & Pretty in Pink are all classics. Clueless, Varsity Blues & She's All That haven't been mentioned in either thread I don't think. And on that note, Not Another Teen Movie is one of the greatest spoof films ever. Jawbreaker is another good one. I don't know if Election counts as a teen movie, but it's spectacular! 10 Things I Hate About You, Juno, and Easy A also deserve discussion. Good mention on Kids, that one always seems to be forgotten.
16 Candles,
While clearly not the greatest teen movie ever, it did have the greatest character in a teen movie ever...
I don't know that I could rank a top 5. Fast Times is obviously my #1, Ferris is up there, as is American Pie. Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, & Pretty in Pink are all classics. Clueless, Varsity Blues & She's All That haven't been mentioned in either thread I don't think. And on that note, Not Another Teen Movie is one of the greatest spoof films ever. Jawbreaker is another good one. I don't know if Election counts as a teen movie, but it's spectacular! 10 Things I Hate About You, Juno, and Easy A also deserve discussion. Good mention on Kids, that one always seems to be forgotten.
16 Candles,
While clearly not the greatest teen movie ever, it did have the greatest character in a teen movie ever...
OMG, you need to see when they discussed this movie and how obvious the racism in it was but that was from a time when you could tell off color jokes and not worry about Crucifixion.
I'll add to the list Weird Science and Project X for a little more modern take on the genre
Films like Weird Science, Project X, Teen Wolf, Back to the Future, Lost Boys, Bill & Ted, Say anything, Better off Dead, Animal House, Stand by Me are all movies that were either not Teenage enough(Stand by Me, Animal House) or just bad movies(Outsiders, Teen Wolf).
You can name a ton more movies but the ones that will rise at the end of the day were the initial 20 I had listed. EDIT: Having listed Breakfast Club I didn't feel the need to add Pretty in Pink or 16 Candles even though they are great I felt that Breakfast Club was head and shoulders above them.
Spot on with the edit. They are all classics but if you give me the choice of the three, I'll take Breakfast Club every time.
curmudgeoness
Brigadoon, foodie capital Posts: 3,254
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
And I looked like Molly Ringwald back in the day.
I agree that The Breakfast Club was the clear winner of the Hughes movies.
But when I think about "teen movies" and what makes them good/ bad/ great, I'm trying to look at them both as a teenager and as an adult. Some of these movies -- Fast Times, Clueless, Dazed and Confused -- I can watch and enjoy now. Others (looking at you, John Hughes) I enjoyed to a greater or lesser extent as a teen, but the whole time there was a tiny part of me that was cringing. And now, as an adult, I watch them and roll my eyes. Meanwhile, I probably can recite most of the lines from Clueless from memory, I watch it so regularly.
And it's not just an issue of changing times. "Long Duk Dong" was overtly racist in the '80s, too. Molly Ringwald wrote an interesting essay about revisiting John Hughes' movies in the #MeToo era. I have to admit, the idea of trading one's girlfriend for another girls' underwear elicited absolutely no reaction from me as a teenage girl. I had pretty thoroughly internalized the message that my role in sexual transactions was to be a passive one. And I'm a big fan of "classic Hollywood" movies from the '30s and '40s, even though the depictions of black and Asian characters are distorted, two-dimensional and demeaning.
So it's not that I'm looking at John Hughes movies as an adult and screeching "Ick! Sexism!" The characters just feel too crudely drawn for my liking, and there's an undercurrent of -- I'm not sure what -- bitterness? anger? in his movies that makes me uncomfortable.
All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
aaaaaand I'm sure everyone but you hasn't seen it, lol.
Give it a try. It's called "Show me Love" (after the Robyn song) outside of the Nordic countries I think. (Åmål is a small town in Sweden). It's heartbreaking.
Post edited by Spiritual_Chaos on
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
John Hughes at his best (with the exception being Christmas Vacation)
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Stand By Me was not as pre-teen movie. It was dark as hell.
It was definitely a teen movie- serving as a tribute to turbulent pre-teen times that teens could relate to.
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F Me In The Brain
this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 30,625
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
I could go back and forth on Fast Times and Dazed at #1. Others in too 5? Tough . American Pie, the Outsiders, and....wild things? (One scene can make a movie!)
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F Me In The Brain
this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 30,625
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Oh - I see on reading that I forgot Kids. (And My Bodyguard was awesome!) .Lots of good movies in this genre.
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It was definitely a teen movie- serving as a tribute to turbulent pre-teen times that teens could relate to.
Others in too 5?
Tough .
American Pie, the Outsiders, and....wild things? (One scene can make a movie!)
I now know what it's like to be Scruffy.
Dead serious.
I'm going to watch it within the next month for sure.