5 High School Movies to Watch Before Graduating

High school... A tumultuous, stress-filled, fickle, part of life that we all experience for four long years. Us teens are spending a good chunk of our lives worrying about tests, assignments, drama in our social lives, homework, relationships - the list goes on and on… Luckily, we have movies in which we can find comfort. High school can be pretty tiring but at times can be equally exciting. So if you’re feeling a little lost or just looking for a good laugh, here’s a list of five high school-based teen movies that you should watch before leaving this institute for good.

Let’s start off with the 70s classic, Grease. This film is probably one of the first “teen-based” films to become popular with every generation. Starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as Danny and Sandy, Grease is an upbeat musical romantic comedy that follows a young high school couple in the 1950s. Its soundtrack is considered the best part of the movie and it even earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. The dialogue has just the right amount of adolescent drama, the songs and choreography are super catchy, and the fashion is exquisitely fun to look at. The movie holds some pretty valuable messages for teens to keep in mind after watching as well. Now go put on a leather jacket and get some dancin’ shoes on, Stud (if you didn’t get that, come back after watching Grease).

If musicals aren’t really up your alley, you can try watching Heathers, a dark comedy film about a teen girl named Veronica and her burning hatred for her popular clique’s vicious behaviours. 90s icon Winona Ryder shows just what her character is capable of when angst meets violence. Veronica finds herself in deep trouble after realizing her boyfriend Jason, played by Christian Slater, is a murderous individual. This film takes all the negative stereotypes and taboos of high school - salacious gossip, the backstabbing of friends, volatile relationships - and transforms it into a teen cult classic. British film magazine Empire, has named Heathers one of the greatest movies of all time.

Sticking with the 80s genre, we’re now going to look at The Breakfast Club. This movie follows five high school students of different social backgrounds and upbringings as they spend the day together in detention. The film shows just what can happen when five strangers - a rebel, princess, brain, jock, and outcast - have a chance to tell their own stories amongst each other. The Breakfast Club masterfully balances the genres of comedy and drama through the perspectives of teenagers. “Brat Pack” members, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, and Ally Sheedy all bring the well-written script to life through performances of sincerity.

Moving on to the 90s, 10 Things I Hate About You is another must-see Rom-Com-Drama. It’s loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew and features Kat Stratford, played by Julia Stiles, as an intelligent and caustic teen who has no plans of dating anyone. Unfortunately, her younger sister Bianca has to abide by house rules of not having a boyfriend until Kat does. There’s some serious plotting that ensues in order to get Kat and her chilly personality to fall for someone, and the charming Patrick Verona, might have a chance at doing so. Even though the movie is from two decades ago, the humorous dialogue and comedic performances brought by a talented cast, proves that 10 Things I Hate About You is as modern as ever. If that doesn’t give you enough incentive to watch the film, just know that the main leads include young Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt… I mean, there’s really nothing to “hate” about this movie at all.

Finishing off this list is - yes, you guessed it, Mean Girls. I’m not really sure how it’s even possible to avoid any forms of this movie for fifteen years straight because it’s practically on every screen you look at. Instagram, Twitter, and even cable television cannot seem to get enough of this teen comedy. Lindsay Lohan plays Cady Heron, a teen from Africa who moves to Illinois with her parents. She finally gets to experience a public high school and all its obstacles, including a popularly cruel clique called “The Plastics”. Audiences get to have a good laugh and indulge in the infamous teen quotes this movie provides. Mean Girls is just a wildly entertaining film that we’ll never get tired of.

To sum it up, we’ve got Grease, Heathers, The Breakfast Club, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Mean Girls (duh!). This blend of romance, comedy, and drama will definitely take the weight off of stresses and school for a bit. If you’ve seen all five of these movies, congratulations! You can probably appreciate every one of these films and recognize each of their individual grandeurs. If you haven’t seen them, well you now have a great list of high school must-watches.

Jadelyn Wang

Spring 2019 Issue