My Favorite Teen Movies

In honor of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, released earlier this month and Sex Drive, released last week (whereas I saw a sneak preview back in July at Comic-Con and it's totally better than American Pie), I'm taking another look at the movies that got me through the hard times also known as adolescence, and which still entertain me into my thirtysomethings.

1. Airborne (1993) replaced E.T. as my all time favorite movie until recently when I switched back. Originally, this post included the first movie review I ever wrote, which was of this movie, from back when I came up with my "Five Star Rating Movie Review System." Instead, I'm going to share the story of the best date I ever went on (which is more relevant to this teen romance and comedy genre anyway). In college, where I met my wife, there was a theater in the union building. One night she planned everything and asked me to meet her there. I showed up, (late even! but that was just because I was) expecting to go bowling or study. Turns out my wife had rented the entire theater for a private screening of Airborne, complete with a plaque on the door calling the event "(my wife's maiden name's) film festival." Because it was around Halloween, she threw in a Spider-Man trick-or-treat pail filled with my favorite kinds of candy and some popcorn too, I think. If your favorite movie on the big screen (ten years after its theatrical release) isn't love, I don't know what is.

2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) For years I only knew the edited for TV version which I recorded. When I finally bought the DVD (not the one in stores now; I have the previous version with a rare John Hughes director's commentary), I was shocked at how many lines I had memorized wrong. And I had the entire movie memorized (never kid yourself that networks just cut scenes; they work wonders with dialogue that are completely unnoticeable). I watched it almost everyday in anticipation of a family vacation through Chicago. I wanted to be familiar with every skyscraper and museum hallway in the movie so I would recognize them in person.

3. Better Off Dead (1985) Believe it or not, my high school debate teacher had to introduce me to this movie. She also introduced me to most of the '80s music I know now. The only thing I knew about John Cusack in 1995 was The Journey of Natty Gann, which ironically came out the same year as Better Off Dead. That means that I was over ten years behind for Sixteen Candles (1984) and five years for Say Anything (1989). I recently realized that the girl who dumps John Cusack's character is the first girl to die in the original Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

4. Clueless (1995) started my first teen celebrity obsession (not counting The Cutting Edge's adult Moira Kelly or The Wonder Years' no-name guest star, Julie Condra, who played the Madeline character). My mom would have never allowed a bikini model on my bedroom wall, but I managed to find a poster size head shot of Alicia Silverstone which I hung on my closet door. To this day, whenever I hear an indie rock song, I think of the line where her character disses her half brother's "college radio" music (Paul Rudd is the funniest). My favorite scenes are with Breckin Meyer's skater dude in debate class.

5. Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) is the second John Hughes movie on this list, but it's not The Breakfast Club (1984) because I never really watched that all the way through until I was out of high school. I just knew and loved the "Don't You (Forget About Me" Simple Minds theme song. This one's as serious to me as Ferris Bueller's Day Off is funny, but that's not to say that there aren't any laugh out loud lines. Add She's Having a Baby (1988 but NOT a teen comedy) and you have my top three Hughes movies. Other favorites that I've seen in my twenties are Drive Me Crazy (1999), Mean Girls and Napoleon Dynamite (both 2004).

Alternates: The Lost Boys (1987; where seemingly young vampires live in eternal adolescence unfettered by grown-up things like jobs, marriage, and mortgages - they live in a cave) and Teen Wolf (1985; where werewolves are one's parents and ancestors - the powers of the "curse" teach the story's moral about adult responsibility) displays teen angst and anxiety better than any of the comedies above.