Let's turn the clock back to an era where VHS tapes were the epitome of technology and teenage life was immortalized on film: welcome to the world of 90s teen movies. With their timeless appeal, these films strike a resonant chord, deftly portraying adolescence through a lens of authenticity. They navigate the tricky terrain of teenagehood, unraveling the rollercoaster of emotions that encapsulate this defining period. From the aisles of high school hallways to the pulsating vibe of parties, these 90s teen movies captured the essence of an era.
The best 90s movies didn’t merely entertain; they were a mirror for teenagers, reflecting the trials and triumphs of growing up. The hit parade of 90s girly movies and 90s party movies offered insightful perspectives on teenage life, exploring themes of love, friendship, identity, and the angst-filled path to self-discovery. Teenagers found solace in these narratives – a cinematic validation that they were not alone in their struggles, that the tumultuous ride of adolescence was a shared experience.
Rare gems like Clueless and She's All That stand as iconic representatives of this genre. These films masterfully encapsulated the dynamics of teenage relationships, the constant oscillation between popularity and obscurity. However, the true depth of this era goes beyond the surface. Unforgettable classics like 10 Things I Hate About You, Never Been Kissed, and The Craft delved into the uncharted areas of teenage life, revealing the bittersweet moments that make growing up such a poignant journey. To elevate your viewing experience, streaming options abound – look beneath each entry to find convenient links for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and more.
The popular 90s movies unmask the complexities of teenage life with a certain raw candor and heartwarming humor. They showcase an intricate tapestry of adolescent experiences, underscored by the irreplaceable allure of the 90s. So, whether you're reliving your wonder years or discovering them for the first time, these teenage movies of the 90s offer a treasure trove of heartfelt stories, meaningful messages, and unforgettable moments. Prepare to embark on a poignant cinematic journey that will leave you reminiscing, laughing, and perhaps even shedding a tear or two.
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Possibly the most defining teen movie of the '90s, Clueless was as remarkable for its stars' eye-popping wardrobes as it was for its biting and ironic sense of humor. Cher and Dionne are the academically underachieving, socially overachieving stars of an upper-crust Beverly Hills high school.
Though she's a ray of sunshine whenever she's getting her own way, things change for Cher when her newly college-educated stepbrother returns home and starts making her feel guilty about her vapid lifestyle. In typical fashion, a convenient transfer student appears, and Cher decides to take the girl under her wing and improve her life by molding her into a model member of her clique.
Overdressed popularity queens are usually the villains of teen movies. Part of what makes Clueless so funny and sweet is that Cher's intentions remain pure, even if she's a little spoiled, and sometimes gets mentally sidetracked thinking about how fabulous she is. Aside from the usual themes, Clueless is a great movie about the importance of not judging people at first glance.
- Actors: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Dan Hedaya
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Amy Heckerling
- Rated: PG-13
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- 10 Things I Hate About You
- Touchstone Pictures
Based on (of all things) Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, 10 Things I Hate About You is basically about getting your parents to loosen up and let you start learning to be an adult already. It was also one of Heath Ledger's earliest movies, before he started getting all weird and freaky and doing roles that were serious and sometimes upsetting.
This movie stars Julia Stiles and Larisa Oleynik, who, at the time, was most recognizable as the star of Nickelodeon's weird sci-fi show, The Secret World of Alex Mack. Stiles and Oleynik play two sisters who must navigate the bizarre dating stipulations of their overbearing father in order to respectively date Heath Ledger and the less-impressive Andrew Keegan.
- Actors: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Gil Junger
- Rated: PG-13
Did this define your life in the '90s?- 1Jason Bateman - Walter Stratford131 Votes
- 2Dulé Hill - Mr. Morgan99 Votes
- 3Sam Rockwell - Mr. Chapin99 Votes
- 4Hailee Steinfeld - Mandella103 Votes
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The film that launched a thousand fumbling adolescent Wicca phases, The Craft stars Robin Tunney as transfer student Sarah, whose existence is turned upside down after she falls in with a group of scowling, outcast goth girls who claim to be witches. At war her whole life with her own volatile supernatural abilities, Sarah quickly discovers that the other girls' powers are likewise legit - and that when pooled together, their abilities can be dangerous.
The real star of The Craft, however, is Fairuza Balk, who stalks, leers, and pouts her way maniacally through the film as the group's unhinged ringleader, Nancy. This movie was pretty much the highlight of Balk's career, unfortunately, but her performance is amazing, and it remains one of the most iconic of the decade. No woman has ever done so much singlehandedly to spike purple lipstick sales, arouse hidden sapphic desires, and encourage irresponsible dabbling in the occult.
- Actors: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Skeet Ulrich
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Andrew Fleming
- Rated: R
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Unlike most films of its ilk, She's All That is a movie about how great conformity is, and how much it totally sucks to be an individual. It also epitomizes the headdesk movie cliche of a "nerdy" female lead being instantly transformed into a knockout by removing her glasses and applying some lip gloss.
Snark aside, She's All That is yet another '90s teen movie about social cliques and the politics of sex and relationships in high school. Rachael Leigh Cook plays Laney, an awkward loner who spends her time away from school painting, doing weird conceptual art performances, and working at a job where she wears a taco hat. Basically, Laney is way too cool and interesting for anyone else at her boring high school to appreciate her.
Her life of wonderment is destroyed, however, when she becomes the subject of unwanted attention from Zack, a popular jock played by Freddie Prinze Jr., who has made a bet with one of his friends about whether or not he can get Laney elected prom queen. Fortunately for her, Laney is receptive to Zack's invasive, cruel, and dishonest scheme, and her life ends up being way better afterward, because she now has a hot boyfriend who looks like Freddie Prinze Jr., as well as a cool new haircut and some barrettes.
- Actors: Freddie Prinze, Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, Paul Walker, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Robert Iscove
- Rated: PG-13
Did this define your life in the '90s?- 1Rachael Leigh Cook26 Votes
- 2Paul Walker12 Votes
- 3Matthew Lillard16 Votes
- 4Anna Paquin16 Votes
Basically a sexual thriller for teenagers, Cruel Intentions was notorious for being dirty and naughty. It contains things like lesbian kissing, verbal references to anal sex, some really overweening cleavage on the part of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and possibly the first ever subplot in a feature film about somebody's nudes getting leaked on the internet.
Based on an 18th-century French novel, Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), Cruel Intentions tells the story of a pair of cynical and overprivileged prep students played by Gellar and Ryan Philippe. Out of boredom and general misanthropy, Philippe bets Gellar that he can seduce an incoming transfer student (these movies are full of transfer students) who recently published an article in a teen magazine about all the reasons why she plans to remain a virgin until marriage.
- Actors: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Louise Fletcher
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Roger Kumble
- Rated: R
Did this define your life in the '90s?- 1Eric Mabius20 Votes
- 2Sean Patrick Thomas14 Votes
- 3Swoosie Kurtz23 Votes
- 4Louise Fletcher16 Votes
The movie that reinvented the teen slasher genre, Scream is also one of the decade's most bone-chilling explorations of teen sex, especially as it applied to girls in high school.
It was the first movie to codify the unspoken "sluts die first" rule of many horror movies that came before, and its witty dialogue and intensely gross chase scenes make it hold up to multiple viewings.
- Actors: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Wes Craven
- Rated: R (USA)
Did this define your life in the '90s?Drew Barrymore channels the horrific awkwardness of high school in this film, where she plays a reporter who must return to high school as an undercover correspondent for her news organization. Posing as a high school student, her experiences are unsurprisingly awful, especially since (like most actual high school students) she feels completely out of her element, and has no idea how to dress, behave, or interact with any of her fellow students.
This all brings up a lot of uncomfortable buried emotions for Drew, who, as a handy set of flashbacks informs us, was kind of a dweeb and an outcast during her real adolescence. Things get even more complicated when Drew develops feelings for one of her teachers, who obviously likes her, but believes she's underage.
Never Been Kissed is really a movie about overcoming who you were in high school and embracing your true identity. But it totally captures the uncertainly of adolescence, and the abject humiliation of most people's early, fumbling attempts at romance.
- Actors: Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Michael Vartan, Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Raja Gosnell
- Rated: PG-13
Did this define your life in the '90s?Arguably more of a guy film, American Pie still made the necessary slumber party inroads to be considered a satellite classic of the girl film subgenre. It also singlehandedly revived the gross-out comedy, a genre that had been sadly languishing since around the mid- to late '80s. American Pie is bizarre, often gross, and occasionally horrifically sexist.
We have to begrudgingly admit, however, that in 1999, it was sort of nice just to see a movie made for teenagers acknowledging that women have a sex drive powerful enough to influence them into making dumb choices and embarrassing themselves.
- Actors: Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Natasha Lyonne
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Paul Weitz
- Rated: R (USA)
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The teens in this movie are of the younger, barely pubescent variety, but this is still a movie that pretty much every girl growing up in the '90s watched multiple times with their friends. Now and Then's gimmick is that the same characters are played, in both the past and the present day, by famous child actresses and famous adult actresses.
So Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, et al. appear for 15 minutes in the bookend segments at the beginning and end of the movie. Then during the major part of the movie in between, they're played in flashback by Thora Birch and Gaby Hoffman, as they discover things about growing boobs, looking at boys' wieners, divorce, and the untimely loss of family members. It also includes an obligatory cameo from Janeane Garofalo, playing a weird Tarot card lady in a diner.
- Actors: Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Demi Moore
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Lesli Linka Glatter
- Rated: PG-13
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- I Know What You Did Last Summer
It's amazing how many '90s teen movies were about accidentally taking someone's life and trying to cover it up. Cashing in on the popularity of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of ultra-popular high school seniors who accidentally plow into someone with their car on a dark road after a night of partying.
Vowing to keep the event a secret, they soon realize the secret is already out, and that whoever knows it is hellbent on vengefully picking them off, one by one.
- Actors: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze, Muse Watson
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Jim Gillespie
- Rated: R
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- Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
- Touchstone Pictures
Ditzy blondes Romy and Michele were harassed endlessly by their peers in high school. Deciding to try to one-up their snotty former classmates, they make a plan to attend their high school reunion and basically just make up a bunch of crap about how successful they are now. Their inept plan goes predictably awry, but more importantly, they get an opportunity to experience the things about high school that didn't totally suck - namely, the parts of high school that involved hanging out and being friends with each other.
Even as a kid, it was easy to enjoy this movie's point, which is that regardless of what happens to you after you graduate, what really matters is having friends who "get" you and want to share your experiences. And owning several extremely shiny dresses in various colors.
- Actors: Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, Janeane Garofalo, Alan Cumming, Julia Campbell
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: David Mirkin
- Rated: R
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The kids go on an adventure after their babysitter perishes in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.
- Actors: Christina Applegate, Joanna Cassidy, John Getz, Josh Charles, Keith Coogan
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Stephen Herek
- Rated: PG-13
Did this define your life in the '90s?- 1Christina Applegate11 Votes
- 2Joanna Cassidy10 Votes
- 3Keith Coogan10 Votes
- 4Josh Charles8 Votes
Can't Hardly Wait takes place over the course of one evening, on graduation night. The senior class is having a graduation party, and the advance buzz promises a rager. With high school behind them and the looming, terrifying future advancing, everybody has a lot on their mind, and a lot to get out of their system.
Ethan Embry is adorable in this movie, playing a dude with just one night left to tell the girl he loves (Jennifer Love Hewitt) how he really feels about her. The most memorable thing about Can't Hardly Wait for most people, though, is Seth Green, his wacky hip-hop goggles, and his unexpectedly adorable hook-up with cynical grump Lauren Ambrose. Plus, Jenna Elfman shows up in an angel costume at one point, and there are scheming nerds wearing X-Files t-shirts.
- Actors: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont
- Rated: PG-13
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- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer the movie did not do so well when it came out, but it spawned a very popular TV show.
- Actors: Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Fran Rubel Kuzui
- Rated: PG-13
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- Jawbreaker
- TriStar Pictures
Inspired by the movie Heathers (which was hugely popular in the '90s, but was tragically released in 1988, making it ineligible for this list), Jawbreaker is a dark comedy about the members of a tyrannical high school clique trying to cover up an accidental murder.
Like Heathers (and its later offspring, Mean Girls), Jawbreaker dissects high school popularity and social stratification and lampoons the lengths the socially dominant will sometimes go to in order to maintain their power. Though the actual crime is horrific, the manipulation, deception, and backstabbing it eventually inspires are way more awful.
- Actors: Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, Julie Benz, Judy Greer, Chad Christ
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Darren Stein
- Rated: R
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In The Faculty, high school students uncover a plot by aliens to take over the world!
- Actors: Jordana Brewster, Clea Duvall, Laura Harris, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
- Rated: R
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- Encino Man
- Hollywood Pictures
What would you do if you found a caveman buried in your backyard? Take him to high school so you can be popular?
Yep, that's a great idea.
- Actors: Brendan Fraser, Pauly Shore, Robin Tunney, Sean Astin, Sandra Hess
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Les Mayfield
- Rated: PG
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It doesn't get more '90s than a movie named after a Britney Spears song! Drive Me Crazy also features a standard plot involving twee deception and fake dating that eventually turns into real dating. Adrian Grenier and Melissa Joan Hart play socially polarized teenagers (she's a perky fashionista, he's a misanthropic outcast) who develop a scheme to attend their school's centennial dance together after both get rejected by the people they actually want to go with.
The idea of this plan is to make their earlier prospects jealous and win them back, but of course, after a string of wacky hijinks, they end up falling for each other instead.
- Actors: Melissa Joan Hart, Adrian Grenier, Susan May Pratt, Kris Park, Mark Webber
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: John Schultz
- Rated: PG-13
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- Urban Legend
- TriStar Pictures
It was all just one big urban legend.
- Actors: Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Michael Rosenbaum, Loretta Devine
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Jamie Blanks
- Rated: R
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Nothing defined teenage girldom more than wishing you could be older, more sophisticated, and have bigger boobs. Wish Upon a Star, a made-for-TV movie produced for the Disney Channel, explored this exact scenario.
Nerdy younger sister Hayley switches bodies with her older, more popular, midriff-exposing sister Alexia, and soon discovers that being all grown up and pseudo-sexually active isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Consider this movie a whimsical last gasp of nostalgia for your prepubescent awkward phase.
- Actors: Katherine Heigl, Danielle Harris, Lois Chiles, Don Jeffcoat, Scott Wilkinson
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Blair Treu
- Rated: PG (USA)
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Continuing its run as a cultural legacy in the form of seemingly endless Tumblr gif sets, The Virgin Suicides was the directorial debut of Sofia Coppola, who later directed Lost in Translation. Yet another '90s movie set during the '70s, The Virgin Suicides stars Kirsten Dunst as a blonde poster child for sexual innocence who, along with her sisters, is slowly degraded and ruined by the perils of the actual world outside their house.
The film's dreamy cinematography and tragedy-infused storyline make it feel borderline surrealistic, and it's been attracting angsty teen girls for over two decades.
- Actors: James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Hanna Hall
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Sofia Coppola
- Rated: R
Did this define your life in the '90s?- 22
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IMDb describes the plot of Mermaids:
An unconventional single mother relocates with her two daughters to a small Massachusetts town in 1963, where a number of events and relationships both challenge and strengthen their familial bonds.
- Actors: Cher, Winona Ryder, Bob Hoskins, Michael Schoeffling, Christina Ricci
- Released: 1990
- Directed by: Richard Benjamin
- Rated: PG-13
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Nobody was anybody in the '90s unless they could tell you who their favorite Spice Girl was. It was therefore an immense cause for celebration in 1997 when the official Spice Girls movie, Spice World, was finally released.
It received a lot of negative reviews even though it's actually a pretty great movie, and not only because it involves the Spice Girls. If you missed it when you were a preteen, you can now experience midnight screenings of it all over the country, as it has finally ascended to its rightful status as an iconic cult film of its generation.
- Actors: The Spice Girls, Richard E. Grant, Alan Cumming, George Wendt, Claire Rushbrook
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Bob Spiers
- Rated: PG
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- I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
The slayer is back and he still knows what you did.
- Actors: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze, Brandy Norwood, Mekhi Phifer, Muse Watson
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Danny Cannon
- Rated: R
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This is still one of the cutest movies on earth about coming out as lesbian, with one of the best casts and truly the best set design and costuming EVER. Natasha Lyonne stars as the movie's titular, perky blonde teen, Megan, who honestly never realized that checking out her friends' boobs in the public showers meant she was gay.
Once Megan's mortified parents figure this out for her, she gets shipped off to a conversion therapy camp called True Directions, which is proves to be a nightmarish cartoon universe of reinforced gender stereotypes. Initially determined to conform, Megan's perspective starts to change after she meets and starts to have feelings for a girl at the camp named Graham.
But I'm a Cheerleader is still a great movie about coming out as gay, made during a time when doing so was even more difficult and horrifying than it typically is today. Even if you're not LGBTQ+, it's a brilliant takedown of gender roles and sexism, and a really sweet and funny romantic comedy.
- Actors: Natasha Lyonne, Cathy Moriarty, Bud Cort, Mink Stole, RuPaul
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Jamie Babbit
- Rated: R
Did this define your life in the '90s?- 1Natasha Lyonne22 Votes
- 2Clea DuVall17 Votes
- 3Bud Cort15 Votes
- 4RuPaul30 Votes
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From IMDb:
A high school teacher's personal life becomes complicated as he works with students during the school elections, particularly with an obsessive overachiever determined to become student body president.
- Actors: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell, Mark Harelik
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Alexander Payne
- Rated: R
Did this define your life in the '90s? Everyone in the '90s seemed weirdly obsessed with the '70s, so Slums of Beverly Hills is appropriately set in 1976. The film stars Natasha Lyonne, goddess of plucky sarcasm, who plays Vivian, a young lady on the verge of puberty who lives nomadically with her dad and brothers.
Slums of Beverly Hills suffered from a crap marketing campaign that tried to make it look like a bawdy gross-out comedy along the lines of American Pie. In reality, it's more of a subdued indie comedy about sexual coming-of-age in the pre-internet era. Vivian's skeptical discomfort with bras, menstruation, and boob size are underplayed, but hilariously relatable.
- Actors: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Corrigan, Eli Marienthal
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Tamara Jenkins
- Rated: R
Did this define your life in the '90s?Originally titled Killing Mrs. Tingle, this movie's title was changed by the studio and the content was reportedly watered down following the infamous Columbine tragedy. A revenge fantasy about getting back at evil teachers who spoil your life, Teaching Mrs. Tingle stars WB refugees Katie Holmes and Barry Watson. It tells the story of some hapless teenagers who, following a series of unfortunate events, confine a vindictive and mean-spirited history teacher in her home.
As the situation escalates, they find themselves under increasing pressure to cover up their missteps and just off her. Teaching Mrs. Tingle is full of weird plotting and convenient, out-of-left-field twists, but it's impossible not to identify with the idea of getting back at a teacher who's been ruining your life all semester.
- Actors: Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Jeffrey Tambor, Barry Watson, Marisa Coughlan
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Kevin Williamson
- Rated: PG-13
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Jamie Lee Curtis must once again battle evil in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. That's the title...
- Actors: Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Arkin, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, Adam Hann-Byrd
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Steve Miner
- Rated: R
Did this define your life in the '90s?- 30
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You never thought you'd see an adorable teen film about the Nixon presidency, but Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams working together can make virtually any ridiculous premise seem engaging and marketable. Set in the 1970s, this funny flick follows a pair of boy-crazy blondes who somehow become embroiled in the Watergate scandal.
An actually very funny and brilliant political satire, this movie was written and directed by Andrew Fleming, the same guy responsible for The Craft.
- Actors: Kirsten Dunst, Michelle Williams, Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Dave Foley
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Andrew Fleming
- Rated: PG-13
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- All I Wanna Do
This one is set in the 1960s at an all-girls boarding school and deals with all kinds of wacky themes. Gaby Hoffman gets in trouble for plotting to sleep with her boyfriend, so she gets sent off to a boarding school. There, she's handed all the tools she needs to misbehave on an even grander scale after falling in with a group of similarly jaded young ladies who also don't want to be stuck going to school there.
The seeds of discord are sewn within the group after rumors begin to circulate about the school turning co-ed. Supporting cast members include Rachael Leigh Cook, Kirsten Dunst (who was basically required to be in every movie like this made after 1995), and Heather Matarazzo from Welcome to the Dollhouse.
- Actors: Lynn Redgrave, Gaby Hoffmann, Kirsten Dunst, Monica Keena, Merritt Wever
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Sarah Kernochan
- Rated: PG-13
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