The best coming of age movies survive because the specific details date and the feeling does not. Eight are ranked below on national preservation first, then awards, then worldwide box office, which puts two 1980s and 1990s films above six that outgrossed them.
Both Registry picks are high school comedies, every film here runs under two hours, and four of the eight were written or directed by women. The last column says what each one is actually about, which is rarely what the poster suggests.
| # | Film | Runtime | Record on paper | What it is really about |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Breakfast Club (1985) | 1 hour 33 minutes | National Film Registry, 2016 | How quickly a label stops fitting |
| 2 | Clueless (1995) | 1 hour 37 minutes | National Film Registry, 2025 | Learning that being nice is not the same as being good |
| 3 | Superbad (2007) | 1 hour 54 minutes | $170.8 million worldwide | Two friends afraid of being separated |
| 4 | Mean Girls (2004) | 1 hour 37 minutes | $130.1 million worldwide | Social hierarchy, treated as anthropology |
| 5 | Lady Bird (2017) | 1 hour 33 minutes | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films | Wanting to leave the place that made you |
| 6 | Easy A (2010) | 1 hour 32 minutes | $75 million worldwide | How fast a rumour becomes a fact |
| 7 | 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) | 1 hour 37 minutes | $53.5 million worldwide | Being paid to like someone, and then doing it |
| 8 | The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) | 1 hour 43 minutes | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films | Trauma that surfaces years after the event |
What Separates a Coming of Age Film From a Teen Comedy
A teen comedy needs jokes and a dance. A coming of age film needs the main character to be measurably different at the end, and the change has to cost something. Every film above clears that, which is why two of them are comedies that the Library of Congress decided to keep.
The test also explains the runtimes. All eight finish inside two hours, because the form works on one school year or one weekend rather than on a plot that needs building.
And it explains the absence of the obvious blockbusters. Spectacle aimed at teenagers is a different category, closer to the fantasy adventures ranked the same way than to anything on this page.
The Eight Best Coming of Age Movies, Ranked
1. The Breakfast Club (1985): Five Students, One Library, One Saturday
Director: John Hughes · Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes · Starring: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald · National Film Registry, 2016
John Hughes keeps 93 minutes almost entirely inside a school library and lets the plot be five people slowly admitting things. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2016.
What dates is the fashion and one uncomfortable makeover. What does not is the structure: each confession raises the stakes of the next, which is why the film is still used to teach ensemble writing.
It grossed $52.1 million in 1985. Every high-school film since that puts strangers in a room is working from this blueprint.
2. Clueless (1995): Jane Austen Rewritten for Beverly Hills
Director: Amy Heckerling · Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes · Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy · National Film Registry, 2025
Amy Heckerling adapted Emma into a 97-minute Beverly Hills comedy, and the Library of Congress selected it in 2025. The plot structure is Austen’s almost beat for beat, including the matchmaking that goes wrong.
The invented slang was written to sound dated on purpose so the film would feel like a period piece immediately. That decision is why it has aged better than its imitators.
It grossed $88 million. Alicia Silverstone plays Cher as genuinely kind and genuinely useless, which is harder than it looks.
3. Superbad (2007): The Highest Grossing Film on This List
Director: Greg Mottola · Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes · Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse · $170.8 million worldwide
Greg Mottola directs a script Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg started as teenagers, and it grossed $170.8 million, more than any other film here.
The jokes are the reason people watch it and the friendship is the reason it holds up. The last ten minutes drop the comedy entirely for two boys who cannot say what they mean.
At 114 minutes it is the longest pick on this list, and the only one that is genuinely for adults rather than for teenagers.
4. Mean Girls (2004): A Teen Comedy Built From a Parenting Book
Director: Mark Waters · Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes · Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan · $130.1 million worldwide
Tina Fey adapted a non-fiction book about adolescent female aggression into a 97-minute comedy, which is why the mechanics of the bullying are precise rather than cartoonish.
It grossed $130.1 million and has spent seven weeks in the United States Netflix top ten since 2021, the highest figure for any film on this page.
The Burn Book works as a plot device because the film establishes the rules of the social system first. Rachel McAdams plays the antagonist as someone who is also trapped.
5. Lady Bird (2017): A Mother and Daughter Who Cannot Stop Arguing
Director: Greta Gerwig · Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes · Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts · $79 million worldwide
Greta Gerwig’s first solo feature runs 93 minutes and covers a senior year in Sacramento without a single scene of triumph. the National Board of Review named it among its ten best films of 2017.
The argument structure is the point: Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf cut each other off mid-sentence for most of the film, and the one conversation they finish is the ending.
It grossed $79 million for A24 and earned five Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best director.
6. Easy A (2010): The Scarlet Letter, Played as a Comedy of Reputation
Director: Will Gluck · Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes · Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes · $75 million worldwide
Will Gluck builds a 92-minute comedy on a rumour that is never true and never corrected, with the Hawthorne novel sitting openly on the desk as the reference.
Emma Stone narrates it directly to camera as a webcast, which lets the film handle its own plot holes out loud. It was the role that made her a lead.
It grossed $75 million. At 92 minutes it is the shortest pick here and the easiest to rewatch.
7. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999): The Taming of the Shrew in a Seattle High School
Director: Gil Junger · Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes · Starring: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt · $53.5 million worldwide
Gil Junger moves the Shakespeare plot to a Seattle school without pretending otherwise, down to the character names. The bet at the centre is cruel and the film does not excuse it.
Heath Ledger was nineteen and unknown in the United States. The poem the title refers to is read out in full in the last reel and it still works.
It grossed $53.5 million and runs 97 minutes. It has spent a week in the United States Netflix top ten.
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012): The Only One Here That Is Not a Comedy
Director: Stephen Chbosky · Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes · Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller · $33.3 million worldwide
Stephen Chbosky adapted and directed his own novel, which is rare enough to matter: the 103-minute film keeps the letters, the structure and the ending intact.
It is the one pick here that deals directly with abuse and mental illness, and it treats both as ongoing rather than as a revelation that fixes the character.
It grossed $33.3 million, the smallest figure on this list, and the National Board of Review named it among the ten best films of 2012.
Four Decades, and What Each One Was Worried About
Put these in release order and the subject shifts without the form changing. The 1980s and 1990s picks are about class and reputation inside a school. The 2000s picks are about the social system itself. The 2010s picks are about what the teenager carries in from outside it.
- 1985 to 1999: The Breakfast Club, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You
- 2004 to 2010: Mean Girls, Superbad, Easy A
- 2012 to 2017: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Lady Bird
Three of the eight are explicit literary adaptations. Clueless is Emma, 10 Things I Hate About You is The Taming of the Shrew and Easy A is built on The Scarlet Letter. None of the three hides it.
The Three Tests Each Film Had to Pass
Each pick needed a checkable record: National Film Registry selection, a National Board of Review listing or a verified worldwide gross. Inside the Registry group the earlier year of selection ranks first, and gross breaks the rest.
Each also had to leave its main character changed by something that cost them, and had to be in wide enough circulation to stream tonight.
What a credential cannot tell you is who the film is for, so the last column is an editorial read on the subject underneath the comedy. Superbad and The Perks of Being a Wallflower are both rated for adults and sit at opposite ends of this list for tone.
How to Choose Your Next Coming of Age Film
If you want the one that started the form, take The Breakfast Club at 93 minutes. If you want the sharpest script, take Clueless or Mean Girls, both 97 minutes and both much better constructed than their reputations suggest.
If you want to be moved rather than entertained, take Lady Bird. If you want the hardest of the eight, take The Perks of Being a Wallflower and know in advance that it deals with abuse.
Clueless then Mean Girls runs 3 hours 14 and makes the clearest possible double bill about social hierarchy, a decade apart. The romantic dramas ranked the same way are the natural step up for anyone who has outgrown the school setting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best coming of age movie?
By record, The Breakfast Club: selected for the National Film Registry in 2016 and the film most later teen ensembles are built from. Clueless joined the Registry in 2025 and has the tighter script of the two.
Which of these teen movies is suitable for younger teenagers?
Clueless, Mean Girls and 10 Things I Hate About You are the three most commonly watched by younger teenagers. Superbad is an adult comedy, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower deals with abuse and suicide and is better watched with a parent.
How long are these coming of age films?
All eight run under two hours. Easy A is the shortest at 92 minutes, with The Breakfast Club and Lady Bird both at 93. Superbad is the longest at 114 minutes.
Are any of these based on books?
Four. Clueless is adapted from Jane Austen’s Emma, 10 Things I Hate About You from The Taming of the Shrew, Easy A builds on The Scarlet Letter, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower is adapted by the author of the novel.
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