Image: Paramount Pictures
About This Quiz
You could make a strong case that teen movies are as old as movies themselves. Not everything was a stuffy old drama meant for middle-aged audiences. Going to the movies has always been a beloved hobby of the younger segment of the population, so it's always been a part of the medium to crank out teen movies. Just look at the crazy beach movie phase of the '50s and the '60s. Nothing but teens, or at least actors in their 20s pretending to be teens, surfing and play beach blanket bingo. Elvis made a series of teen films back in the day that were just excuses for him to sing to girls.
Teen movies really hit their stride as a blockbuster genre in the late '70s moving into the '80s, and you can thank John Hughes for making them a behemoth. His movies "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Weird Science," "16 Candles" and, of course, "The Breakfast Club" dove a little deeper into teen drama than films had in the past, mixing comedy with real-life stuff teens could relate to in a way that made those movies timeless. And the teen movie lives on to this very day. If you feel like you know it well enough, take the quiz and see what you can do!
"Risky Business"
"The Breakfast Club"
"The Breakfast Club" may be one of the most well-known teen movies of all time, if not the most well-known. From famed director John Hughes, this was one of three films he made with Molly Ringwald in the '80s.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
"She's All That"
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"16 Candles"
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
Another John Hughes film, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" featured Matthew Broderick in the title role and Alan Ruck as his best friend. Despite playing a high school kid who's 17, Ruck was 29 at the time.
"Weird Science"
"Say Anything"
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"Clueless"
"Clueless" came out in 1995 and has become something of a cult classic, spawning numerous parodies and even a TV show. In a very, very loose way, it's actually based on the Jane Austen novel "Emma."
"Footloose"
"Never Been Kissed"
"The Princess Diaries"
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"Never Been Kissed"
"Sixteen Candles"
Molly Ringwald starred in "Sixteen Candles" alongside Anthony Michael Hall, who was her co-star in the movie "The Breakfast Club." John Hughes was famously enamored with Ringwald and apparently wrote the movie after being inspired by her picture in only one weekend.
"Say Anything
"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist"
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"The Princess Diaries"
"She's All That"
"Booksmart"
"Booksmart" takes the common formula of "one crazy night" movies like "Superbad," but it focuses on girls instead of boys. Until the night before graduation, the craziest thing Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever's characters had done was get fake college IDs to use the 24-hour library.
"Bring It On"
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"Bring It On"
"10 Things I Hate About You"
"10 Things I Hate About You" is a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." The same story is the basis for the movie "Deliver Us From Eva" and the musical "Kiss Me Kate."
"She's All That"
"Ever After"
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"Bring It On"
"She's All That"
"Mean Girls"
Written by SNL alumnus Tina Fey, "Mean Girls" made Lindsay Lohan a major league star for a time. It was so popular it spawned a quasi-sequel and then later it even became a musical.
"16 Candles"
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"The Spectacular Now"
"Dirty Dancing"
Sparks fly during the summer of 1963 when Jennifer Grey's Baby Houseman and Patrick Swayze's Johnny Castle fall in love while he teaches her how to dance. Her family is vacationing at a resort in Catskills when the two meet.
"Pretty in Pink"
"Grease"
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"She's the Man"
"The Goonies"
"Ever After"
"Bring It On"
"Bring It On" came out in the year 2000 but there have been five sequels to it since then that didn't get quite as much fanfare. The latest film was 2017's "Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack."
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"Dazed and Confused"
"16 Candles"
"Scott Pilgrim vs The World"
"Easy A"
Emma Stone starred in "Easy A" alongside Amanda Bynes and Aly Michalka. The film proved to be remarkably successful, earning more than nine times its budget back at the box office.
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"Juno"
"Juno" was directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. It starred Ellen Page and Michael Cera and actually won the Oscar for best original screenplay back in the year 2008.
"13 Going on 30"
"She's the Man"
"Freaky Friday"
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"Pretty in Pink"
"Pretty in Pink" was one of the "Brat Pack" films that John Hughes made famous in the 1980s. Aside from being a popular film, it also had a remarkably popular soundtrack and Molly Ringwald herself has been chosen the #1 greatest teen star of all time by VH1.
"The Outsiders"
"Heathers"
"Weird Science"
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"Freaky Friday"
"Clueless"
"Pitch Perfect"
"Pitch Perfect" proved to be a sleeper hit back in 2012, as few people were expecting a comedy about a women's college a cappella team to be that popular. Instead, it ended up grossing over $115 million.
"The Lost Boys"
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"Red"
"Welcome to the Doll House"
"Boys Don't Cry"
"Cruel Intentions"
"Cruel Intentions" is the height of teen intrigue and melodrama. It stars Ryan Phillipe and Sarah Michelle Gellar at the height of their fame and was a teen version of "Dangerous Liaisons," itself an adaptation of a French novel from 1782. Reese Witherspoon also stars.
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"Blockers"
Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz star in this high school comedy about a trio of parents who do everything they can to keep their daughters from doing anything rash after prom.
"Weird Science"
"Freaky Friday"
"The Outsiders"
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"Superbad"
Seth Rogen has long been writing partners with his friend Evan Goldberg. The two main characters in "Superbad," played by Michael Cera and Jonah Hill, are actually named Seth and Evan after the writers.
"Pineapple Express"
"Your Highness"
"Preacher"
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"West Side Story"
"Grease"
"Grease" is one of the most popular musicals of all time. It starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as high school students even though both of them were quite a bit older than high school age when the film was made. Travolta was 24 and Newton-John was 30.
"Footloose"
"The Lost Boys"
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"Dazed and Confused"
"Superbad"
"Easy A"
"American Pie"
Starting back in 1999, there have been a total of 8 "American Pie" films in the franchise, though not all of them were released theatrically nor did they all feature the same cast. The series has grossed over $1 billion.
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"13 Going on 30"
"The Princess Diaries"
"Freaky Friday"
"Freaky Friday" was first made in 1976 with Jodie Foster then again in 1995 with Gaby Hoffman. In 2003 the most popular version was released featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. In 2018 there was a TV version on the Disney Channel.
"She's the Man"
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"John Tucker Must Die"
"The Outsiders"
"13 Going On 30"
Jennifer Garner starred in "13 Going on 30" which was about a 13-year-old girl who wishes she could be grown up and then wakes up as a 30-year-old the next day. The movie made nearly the same amount in rental revenue, about $57 million, as it did at the box office.
"Never Been Kissed"
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"Sixteen Candles"
"10 Things I Hate About You"
"Lady Bird"
Saorise Ronan and Laurie Metcalf were nominated for Academy Awards in this Best Picture-nominated movie. Director Greta Gerwig was also nominated. The film follows Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson during her senior year of high school.
"Heathers"
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"She's All That"
"She's All That" starred Rachel Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr. The movie, while a bit of a cult classic, didn't garner too many positive reviews and has been parodied many times for its very forced "ugly duckling" storyline.
"Never Been Kissed"
"The Princess Diaries"
"Ever After"
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"Heathers"
"Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
"Scott Pilgrim vs the World"
"To All the Boys I've Loved Before"
"To All the Boys I've Loved Before" is based on the book of the same name and is actually the first movie in a planned trilogy to air on Netflix. The second is called "To All the Boys: P.S. I Stil Loved You" and the third is "To All The Boys: Always And Forever, Lara Jean."
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"Mean Girls"
"The Princess Diaries"
"Ever After"
"Never Been Kissed"
Drew Barrymore starred in "Never Been Kissed" back in 1999. It was one of those teen movies that had a twist, ostensibly poking fun at the history of teen movies casting older actors, by having Drew Barrymore portraying a woman in her 20s pretending to be a teenager.
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"The Goonies"
"Risky Business"
"Ever After"
"Footloose"
Kevin Bacon became world-famous thanks to his role in "Footloose" back in 1984. The movie was remade in 2011 but didn't seem to cause as much of an impact culturally as that first one did.
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"Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" probably wouldn't get made today given its pretty intense subject matter for a teen audience, but it was a hit back when it came out and made Sean Penn, who'd only been in one other film, famous.
"Say Anything"
"The Goonies"
"Heathers"
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"Risky Business"
Tom Cruise plays Joel Goodson in this 1983 classic. When his parents go out of town, he takes advantage of the freedom and dances to "Old Time Rock and Roll." Things get complicated, though, when he meets a call girl and his mother's valuable glass egg is stolen.
"Footloose"
"The Goonies"
"Freaky Friday"
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"She's All That"
"The Princess Diaries"
"The Princess Diaries," starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews was a massive success that ended up grossing $165 million worldwide, which is a staggering amount for a teen comedy. A sequel puled in $134 million.
"Pitch Perfect"
"13 Going on 30"
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"Clueless"
"Heathers"
"Drop Dead Gorgeous"
When Kirsten Dunst's Amber enters her small town's beauty pageant, she discovers a cutthroat world of pageant moms and beauty queens. This dark comedy from 1999 has become a cult classic in the years since.
"Jennifer's Body"
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"Love, Simon"
The 2018 movie "Love, Simon" stars Nick Robinson as a high school student who's fallen for an anonymous student online. Since he hasn't even come out as gay to anyone, everything's a bit complicated.
"The Outsiders"
"Teen Wolf"
"The Edge of Seventeen"
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"Napoleon Dynamite"
Jon Heder's first role was in the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." Likely no one could have predicted how popular the movie would become as evidenced by the fact Heder was only paid $1,000 for his role, though he was cut in for some of the profit later.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
"She's All That"
"American Pie"
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"She's the Man"
Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum starred in "She's the Man" which is very loosely based on "Twelfth Night" by Shakespeare. It's also a soccer film, which is not really a part of Shakespeare's play.
"Heathers"
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
"Juno"
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"Say Anything"
"Ever After"
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
"West Side Story"
"West Side Story" is a class movie adapted from the classic romance of star-crossed lovers from families, or in this case gangs, that hate each other. The film was added to the National Film Registry in 1997 for being culturally important.
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"The Lost Boys"
"10 Things I Hate About You"
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
"Heathers"
"Heathers" featured Winona Ryder and Christian Slater in a very dark story that became something of a cult film as time went on. It even spawned a TV show adaptation in 2018.
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"Scott Pilgrim vs the World"
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" had an impressive ensemble cast that also includes Nina Dobrev, Mae Whitman, Paul Rudd, Ezra Miller and Dylan McDermott.
"Dazed and Confused"
"Grease"
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"Heathers"
"Say Anything"
John Cusack starred in 1989's "Say Anything" as Lloyd Dobler, a character that has become famous for the single scene in which he stands outside Diane's house with a boombox over his head playing Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes."
"The Outsiders"
"Risky Business"
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"Dazed and Confused"
Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused" featured an epic ensemble cast that is a cult classic today but absolutely bombed when it first came out, earning just $8 million at the box office.
"Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
"The Outsiders"
"The Goonies"
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"Grease"
"Heathers"
"The Outsiders"
Based on the novel of the same name, "The Outsiders" starred C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe. It was one of the first Brat Pack movies of the '80s.
"Animal House"
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"The Edge of Seventeen"
"The Edge of Seventeen" is about Hailee Steinfeld's Nadine, an awkward high schooler who doesn't know how to handle it when her best friend starts dating her older brother. Woody Harrelson co-stars as a sarcastic teacher who's always there to help talk things through with Nadine.
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
"She's the Man"
"Easy A"
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"Easy A"
"John Tucker Must Die"
"The DUFF"
"The DUFF" was released in 2015 and stars Mae Whitman. The name is an acronym and stands for "Designated Ugly Fat Friend" which is kind of a repeat Whitman, who also starred as Ann on "Arrested Development," a character everyone felt was unattractive and forgettable.
"Never Been Kissed"
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You Got:
/40
