14 Movies That Will Give You All the High School Nostalgia
Gen X didn't invent high school nostalgia, but they may have perfected it. Having spent their teen years watching their own big-screen classmates in John Hughes movies, they closed out their twenties watching 10-year high school reunion movies. In honor of "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" turning 20 this year, have a high school reunion with these flicks.
'American Graffiti' (1973)
Before he invented "Star Wars," George Lucas invented the high school nostalgia movie with this cruise back to 1962, complete with a non-stop early-rock-'n'-roll soundtrack, a parade of vintage hot rods, and a not-so-naive comic take on the high jinks of high schoolers on their last night before college. Today, it's even more nostalgic to see how young Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Suzanne Somers, and Harrison Ford were in 1973.
'The Breakfast Club' (1985)
"Don't you forget about me," goes the Simple Minds tune that was this film's signature song. Indeed, if you were in high school at the time, this song was the musical analog to what your friends wrote in your yearbook. And today, you're wondering what would have become of Bender, Brian, Claire, Andrew, and Allison, the five members of the John Hughes Detention Class of 1985, the misfits who spoke to your own teenage alienation.
'Can't Hardly Wait' (1998)
What's your pick for the best teen-party movie ever? If you're a millennial, it's probably this one, with Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose, Ethan Embry, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Yes, there's no character here you haven't seen before or since in some other teen-party movie, but then, the comfortable predictability of this one is the source of its charm.
'Clueless' (1995)
Unless you were very rich, your high school was probably not much like Cher's (Alicia Silverstone). Still, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" director Amy Heckerling's hilarious update of Jane Austen's "Emma" will make you long for the days of mall-shopping, learning to drive, petitioning your teachers for better grades, and falling in love with the wrong guy or gal. Oh, and also for the days when cell phones were luxury items instead of necessary nuisances.
'Cooley High' (1975)
Watching many of Hollywood's teen movies, you'd think only white suburbanites ever went to high school. Offering an early corrective was this nostalgic, Motown-fueled visit to a black Chicago high school of the early '60s. An underrated film about universal high school experiences that is worthy of discovering.
'Dazed and Confused' (1993)
Richard Linklater's cult classic about teens partying after the last day of school in 1976 Texas offered plenty of nostalgia. Today, watching the impossibly young Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, and Matthew McConaughey in their first major roles, you may feel like McConaughey's Wooderson: you keep getting older, while the high schoolers in the film stay the same age.
'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (1982)
Like most Cameron Crowe-scripted movies, this one is marked by journalistically-observed detail and an awesome vintage soundtrack. Directed with great empathy by Amy Heckerling, it's a comedy of surprising depth, particularly about teens navigating the treacherous waters of sex. See it and remember a time when make-out music meant Led Zeppelin, and when Sean Penn (as archetypal surfer/stoner Spicoli) was funny.
'Grease' (1978)
Here's the time-travel dizziness you get from watching "Grease" today: It's a movie about the '50s, made in the '70s, with a disco theme song sung by a '60s rocker, starring 35-year-olds as teenagers. Plus, your high school was probably not like this at all (Drag races? Carnivals?), except for the parts where everyone lies to each other about sex.
'Grosse Pointe Blank' (1997)
What if that one classmate at the top of your "Whatever happened to..." list came to your 10th reunion and turned out to be a professional hitman? That's the genius premise of this dark comedy, in which assassin John Cusack reluctantly returns home, reconnects with old pals (including the girl he abandoned on prom night), and wreaks violent mayhem. The movie's great running gag is that Cusack's Martin Blank tells the truth about his career choice to every old friend he meets, and no one bats an eye. Today, the movie's a throwback to an era when we still thought movies about chatty killers were fun.
'High School Musical' (2006)
It's already hard to remember just how huge this Disney trilogy was, just a decade ago. It's actually a treat to revisit the East High Class of 2008 and wistfully recall a time when we all thought Ashley Tisdale and Corbin Bleu were going to be big stars, and no one imagined clean-cut Zac Efron would spend years making raunchy comedies like "Dirty Grandpa."
'Mean Girls' (2004)
Lindsay Lohan's naive navigation of the teen-queen jungle owes big debts to "Heathers" and "Clueless," but it's more sharply-observed than either, since screenwriter Tina Fey adapted it from an actual textbook about teen sociology. Although the comedy launched Lizzy Caplan, Amanda Seyfried, and Rachel McAdams toward stardom, its nostalgia value now is bittersweet; after all, the 2004 Lohan would surely have been voted "Most Likely to Succeed."
'Peggy Sue Got Married' (1986)
Kathleen Turner is terrific in Francis Ford Coppola's underrated dramedy about an unhappy woman attending her 25th high school reunion who magically returns to her senior year (1960) with all her hard-earned adult wisdom. To her horror, she discovers she'll still make the same life-changing mistakes. At least she does have the good sense to ditch algebra class.
'American Reunion' (2012)
Wanna feel old, millennials? Know that anyone born in 1999, the year that pastry-humping Jim (Jason Biggs) and his classmates graduated from high school in "American Pie," is old enough to graduate now. Certainly the passage of time weighed heavily on Jim and the gang five years ago, at the 13-year reunion depicted in this sequel. Some things, thankfully, don't change, whether it's the franchise's raunchy-but-sweet tone, or the ability of these awkward guys and gals to humiliate themselves sexually in front of all their friends.
'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion' (1997)
Mira Sorvino reportedly went all Method-actress to play delightfully ditzy Romy, though Lisa Kudrow probably just had to tweak her Phoebe Buffay a little to play the similarly spacy Michele. Either way, the daffy duo are on the same wacky wavelength when they try to impress classmates at their 10th reunion with their imaginary business success. The movie's a nice, wry reminder that there are some aspects of high school we never outgrow, including feeling dorky and inadequate in the eyes of our peers.
