The best high school movies work across generations. They might inspire you to imagine what high school might feel like, or reflect the ups and downs of your current high school experience, or make you look back at your high school days fondly or not-so-fondly. Classic high school movies like The Breakfast Club or Grease remind us that while decades and technology change, the feeling of being a teenager surrounded by other teenagers, the chaos and thrill and romance of those years, is forever; each new generation gets to experience their own version of it.
There’s something inherently relatable about high school movies. That’s because, for the majority of us, we’re seeing a world that we’ve been inside of. We know the social dynamics, the clichés, the small things and moments that always seemed to have outsized stakes attached. Although high school life as seen on screen may not always exactly mirror reality—we’re looking at you, acne-free 27-year-olds playing teens—in broad strokes, these movies show a life we recognise.
Maybe you think that life was, or is, a blast. Or maybe you couldn’t get paid enough to repeat high school. Regardless of which side of the spectrum you fall on, as we grow older, there’s often something both uncomfortable and cathartic about returning to this version of ourselves via high school movies. In spite of—or perhaps because of—their flaws, the protagonists of these films are almost always easy to root for. That’s because who we’re really rooting for is our high-school selves.
Below, we rounded up the best high school movies, featuring classic and modern films, coming-of-age stories, and more.
1. Do Revenge (2022)
When popular girl Drea Torres (Camila Mendes) doesn’t get accepted to Yale because of a leaked video, she forms an unlikely friendship with outcast Eleanor (Maya Hawke). Previously popular and feared by fellow students, Drea is mostly understood—a Mexican-American who has managed to climb the social ladder of her predominantly white high school. After the video goes public, Drea and Eleanor decide to swap revenge plots. The next steps bring in elements of Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You, and other classic high school films from long ago. I won’t spoil the plot, but it involves a complete makeover and extravagant plan to ruin the lives of those who leaked the video, and much more drama. Plus, Teen Vogue is basically a character in the first part of the film, so that makes it a must-watch in our eyes.