Top 10 High School Movies
High school movies never disappoint, whether you’re 14 or 34. We all remember what it was like in the throes of puberty’s greasy grasp, just trying to make it through the day without embarrassing ourselves and being tagged as—gasp!—uncool. It’s much better to watch it happen to someone else. So, in no particular order, here are some of the best movies about those four personality-forming, ego-crushing years.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
It launched the careers of Cameron Crowe (screenplay), director Amy Heckerling (later of Clueless fame), and actors Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates (that red bikini scene is still pretty hot in all its slo-mo glory, no?) and, of course, Sean Penn. His Jeff Spicoli single-handedly created the goofy-sweet surfer/skateboarder dude persona on film—and it’s totally awesome. You’ll also spot future Oscar winners Nicolas Cage and Forest Whitaker and the gingerlicious Eric Stolz. Fast Times dealt with abortion, drugs, sex, ticket scalping, fast food, prom, and passing history. Isn’t that what high school is all about?
Mean Girls (2004)
Fact: Lindsay Lohan once had great comedic timing—and a healthy body. Fact: Writer Tina Fey is clearly the current funniest and girl crush-iest woman alive. Fact: Rachel McAdams’ spoiled, devious Regina George launched her career. Fact: Amanda Seyfried’s air-headed, cousin-kissing Karen was a scene-stealer. Conclusion: Mean Girls still holds up as smart, hilarious, and most importantly, identifiable: every girl who ever set foot inside a high school in the past 20 years can, like, totally relate.
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Remember when there was no better feeling than the wide-open freedom of the last day of school? It’s Texas, 1976, and small-town stoner Pickford is throwing a keg party. When the plan falls through, the whole school reconvenes for a “blowout at the Moon Tower” led by the skeezy, jailbait-chasing Wooderson. (Has Matthew McConaughey ever been better in a movie? Discuss). Football hero Randy “Pink” Floyd (Jason London) wrestles with football, women, and existential teenage questions. Writer-director Richard Linklater (who also helmed Before Sunrise/Sunset) perfectly captures that teenage combo of angst and excitement as freshmen, seniors, stoners, jocks, mean girls, and nerds mingle, flirt, fight, and get intoxicated.
Election (1999)
Reese Witherspoon kills it as over-achiever and student body president-wannabe Tracy Flick. She may seem like an uptight square, but Tracy’s hiding a secret teacher affair, plus she’s ruthless when it comes to winning that election, which drives another teacher, Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick), nuts. He convinces sidelined, sweet-as-pie and dumb-as-bricks football hero Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against her and the battle is on. Written and directed by Alexander Payne of Sideways and About Schmidt fame, Election is a little bit dark and a whole lot entertaining.
Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Was there ever a better high school bad boy than Christian Slater? By day he’s shy new kid Mark Hunter, but by night he’s shock-jockey Hard Harry preaching anti-authority to the teenage masses over short-wave radio. Samantha Mathis plays Nora, an arty admirer of Hard Harry’s message, who also falls for his quiet alter-ego when she discovers his secret. After a student fan commits suicide, Mark takes on the school district and becomes the voice of angst-ridden teens everywhere. Go Hard!
Heathers (1988)
Christian Slater rears his slick head in another dark teen classic. Westerberg High is home to the Heathers, a trio of popular girls who rule the school. Winona Ryder’s quirky Veronica is welcomed into the clique, even though she kind of wishes they would just disappear. Enter new guy J.D., who has daddy issues and likes to shoot guns. Heather #1 croaks after drinking the special hangover remedy he doctors and Veronica finds herself covering up the murders of her so-called friends. Sounds like a thriller, but Heathers is flat-out brilliant and its black comedy holds up over 20 years later.
Say Anything… (1989)
I read an article once that posited the theory that women are messed up about romance due to John Cusack’s Lloyd Dobler: kickboxer, boombox serenader, and lover of Diane Court (Ione Skye), the smartest girl in school. His devotion was unwaveringly adorable and fueled the fodder of many a teenage girl’s burgeoning ideas of romance. The author claimed that women everywhere were searching for their own Lloyd to love them unconditionally, which will never happen because HE’S NOT REAL. Repeat: he’s not real. Sigh. A gal can dream, right?
Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
John Hughes wrote all of the above movies and directed all but Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful. Can you believe it? Each one is a classic and worthy of being on this list in its own right. It almost seems unfair to lump them together, but think of it as more high school movie bang for your buck. Though each is unique, they all hit on common themes of love, hormones, humiliation, geeks, popular kids, and the Hughes sentiment that your teenage years are dramatic, lonely, scary and, quite possibly, amazing (in hindsight, of course).
Written by: Alicia Cox