The demise of teen movies has been sorely exaggerated. The genre's popularity really skyrocketed in the ‘80s with films like “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Say Anything.” Hollywood quickly picked up on the success of marketing movies to teens. What else are they going to do on Friday night?
Since then, each decade has brought a new spin on the tried and true stories — whether they’re high school character studies, rom-coms or intense dramas. Sure, we’re definitely missing out on huge blockbuster staples a la “Clueless” and “Mean Girls.” However, in the last few years, streaming services have breathed new life into the genre, offering more representation and varied storylines. To boot, the production value hasn’t really gone down much.
Between new streaming hits like “You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah” and classic staples like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” here are the best teen movies to stream on Netflix right now.
'Do Revenge'
Sometimes, you just need to … do revenge. There’s no better word to describe the 2022 Netflix original than chaotic. “Do Revenge” is peak Gen Z vibes as two unlikely students team up to carry out each other’s revenge fantasies. Drea (Camila Mendes) is a popular mean girl while Eleanor (Maya Hawke) is a sporty tomboy.
Naturally, the movie is heavily satirical, poking fun at generational stereotypes and performative activism that’s done more for likes than the actual cause. Anyone who finds themselves rewatching “Heathers” three times a year (AKA me) definitely needed an updated, modern, batsh*t campy teen comedy to fill the void.
The quote, “Teenage girls. We’re psychopaths,” just about sums up the entire vibe of the film. Backstabbing is par for the course and it’s just an all-around wild ride that speaks to the “Gossip Girl” girlies. “Do Revenge” takes place in a wealthy private school, after all. To boot, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” icon Sarah Michelle Gellar plays the headmaster and it’s everything.
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'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'
Modern audiences just have to look past the truly hideous hairstyles in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to enjoy this classic. The 1982 movie takes place in the fall of 1972, and there’s certainly an argument that some of the themes have aged as poorly as the fashion. With that being said, the sex dramedy broke barriers with issues that were barely tackled in like-minded films.
It’s not surprising that “Clueless” writer and director Amy Heckerling honed in on the valley girl trope nearly a decade before helming the ‘90s classic. The ensemble movie takes a group of teens from different circles while they deal with things like abortion, drugs, and the perils of being a teen — all wrapped up in an edgy bow gift-wrapped straight from the mall. That is, when they’re not at Ridgemont High.
As an added bonus, Heckerling helped pave the way for female directors both in and out of the teen comedy genre. Cameron Crowe wrote the movie that stars Sean Penn (Jeff Spicoli), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Stacy Hamilton), Judge Reinhold (Brad Hamilton), Robert Romanus (Mike Damone), Brian Backer (Mark Ratner), Phoebe Cates (Linda Barrett), and Forest Whitaker (Charles Jefferson).
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'Easy A'
In hindsight, it’s pretty wild that 2010 gave us a “Scarlet Letter”-inspired coming-of-age rom-com with a main character selling fake sex for gift cards. But really, who can’t relate to getting so annoyed by a rumor that you make it a reality out of spite? No? Just me? Well, at least Emma Stone’s “Easy A” character Olive gets it. When the school gossips overhear her lie to her friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka) that she lost her V-card to a college boy, Olive takes the rumor and runs with it.
After a closeted student comes to her asking for help quelling the rumors about his sexuality, Olive gets into the entrepreneurial spirit and exchanges the rights to say she hooked up with unpopular students for gift cards. Cue a significant amount of slut-shaming and Olive embracing the situation by embodying Hester Prynne and pinning an “A” to outfits that would get teens suspended from pretty much any school on planet reality.
Not only is the film chaotically hilarious, but it also offers a unique iteration of the high school experience. Even better? The movie references other teen classics like “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club.” “Easy A” also gives us a break from the usual angsty parent-teen relationships with Olive’s parents arguably being the funniest part of the film with their quirky brand of parenting that we all wish we had. Did I mention that Penn Badgley (Todd) plays the romantic lead? Yeah, it’s time to revisit this masterpiece.
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'You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah'
Ah, the typical “best friend ditches her nerdy friend for the popular crowd” trope. Hey, it’s a classic for a reason. In 2023, Adam Sandler came back to the movie scene with his whole family in tow for a wholesome and realistic depiction of the teenage experience with “You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah.” Stacy (Sunny Sandler) is pumped for her Bat Mitzvah, but some major friendship fallout results in savage backstabbing and major secondhand embarrassment.
Listen, being a teenage girl is hard. Boys fight with fists and girls fight with psychological warfare. Then again, the boys in “You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah” have no qualms about laughing at a girl for an errant maxi pad incident. For anyone wondering, period jokes are so 2003 and not 2023.
There’s a level of authenticity in the film that Hollywood is sometimes lacking, as both the cast and creatives, including Idina Menzel and Adam Sandler, drew from their own Jewish experiences.
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'Crossroads'
Does the 2002 movie “Crossroads” have the best script in the world? No. But it does have multiple musical performances by Britney Spears in her only feature film. That alone makes it one of the most iconic films of the early aughts (or all time if you ask some Britney enthusiasts — yes, I’m mostly talking about myself).
Unlike many teen movies of the time, “Crossroads” centers more on female friendship than a romantic arc, though it does have rom-com elements. Lucy (Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana), and Mimi (Taryn Manning) are childhood friends who grew apart for nearly a decade before a road trip brings the girls back together after graduation. Lucy is essentially the character embodiment of Spears’ song “Overprotected.” While she wants in on the road trip to confront the mother who abandoned her, Kit is along for the ride to visit her fiance, while a pregnant Mimi is pursuing a record company audition.
Along the way, we get several remixes of Spears’ songs and an epic cover of “I Love Rock ‘n’’ Roll.” And just a reminder to other ‘90s kids: Watch the movie if you want to hear Britney Spears jam out to “Bye Bye Bye” (we’re just going to focus on the music here and not the Justin Timberlake Situation).
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