The 21 Best Coming-of-Age Movies of All Time

Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird has become the blueprint for the modern coming of age story. Armed with an all-star cast and 2000s nostalgia, the film follows Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), a headstrong 17-year-old girl, as she navigates growing up in Sacramento, California. Her first boyfriend is gay (relatable), her second treats her like garbage (relatable), and she hasn’t quite figured out who she wants to be.

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Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy McCall (Omar Epps) are next-door neighbors who form a tight-knit bond over their shared love of basketball. The film follows the evolution of their relationship over the course of a decade, from their time as the stars of their high school basketball teams to their careers as young professional athletes.

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Painfully accurate (yet enormously compelling), Dìdi follows a thirteen-year-old Taiwanese-American boy during the summer before his freshman year of high school. It’s 2008—Myspace is out, Facebook is in, and Youtube is on the rise. Chris “Wang Wang” is grappling with his cultural identity, and navigating where he fits in with his peers. We see him experience the embarrassing and hilarious moments that define this pivotal stage of adolescence while learning major life lessons—how to flirt, how to skate, and how to love your mom.

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William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is a 15-year-old child prodigy who dreams of one day becoming a rock music journalist. While pursuing an assignment about a concert review, William comes across Stillwater, an up-and-coming band opening for Black Sabbath. There, he meets Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a free-spirited groupie and rock music muse.

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Based on the novel by Stephen Chbosky, the film follows introvert Charlie (Logan Lerman) in his freshman year of high school, where he navigates mental health issues and loneliness. But when two seniors take him under their wing, Charlie is introduced to a world of good music, love, sex, friendship, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s a movie that celebrates the outcasts—and it has a damn good soundtrack.

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Based on the play of the same name by Josefina López, Real Women Have Curves offers a realistic portrayal at what it means to be a teenager dealing with social pressures about body image. America Ferrera stars as Ana García, an 18-year-old girl on the precipice of graduating from her Los Angeles high school. While her teacher encourages her to pursue higher education, Ana’s mother, Carmen (Lupe Ontiveros), expects Ana to stay in LA and work at a family-run textile factory. As Ana figures out what path she wants to take for her future, she also fields critical comments about her weight from her mother.

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Based on Judy Blume’s iconic ’70s novel, this film is such a special and timeless depiction of girlhood. We follow 11-year-old Margaret as she discovers her own identity and experiences pivotal moments in any young girl’s life—getting your first bra, your first crush, and your first period. It’s funny, heartwarming, and it will make you wish Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie were your parents.

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What happens when your biggest role model isn’t exactly an exemplary mentor? Clean-cut 16-year-old Monroe befriends his older sister’s ex-boyfriend (Pete Davidson), a 23 year old drug-dealing college dropout. Under his destructive influence, Mo is introduced to a world of partying, drugs, dating, and a lot of bad decisions.

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This heartwarming comedy explores the fantasy of going back to give your younger self advice (or a warning). Maisy Stella stars as Elliott, a free-spirited teenager determined to make the most of her last summer at home before leaving for college. On her 18th birthday, a magic mushroom trip brings her face to face with her future self (Aubrey Plaza). When her “old ass” advises Elliott to avoid a particular boy, she promises to obey—until she meets him.

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High school is hard as is, and having your older brother date your best friend certainly doesn’t make it any easier. That’s the predicament that 17-year-old Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) finds herself in during her junior year. When her best friend, Krista (Haley Lu Richardson), rejects her ultimatum to choose between her or her brother, Nadine finds comfort in a new friend, Erwin (Hayden Szeto), who harbors a secret crush on her.

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Written and directed by Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade depicts youth in a way that’s visceral, poignant, and embraces the cringe. Thirteen-year-old Kayla navigates her last week of middle school, riddled with social anxiety and eager to fit in. Her journey perfectly demonstrates how grueling it is to be young—I mean, what’s more terrifying than being a tween girl walking into a pool party?

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Filmed in snapshots over the course of 12 years, Richard Linklater’s bold film follows a boy and his divorced parents (Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette), as he navigates puberty, adolescence, and friendship. The vignettes capture both the mundane moments and the major milestones that come with growing up. It’s a character study that’s raw and intimate, and unlike any other film that exists.

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Often referred to as the modern-day “female Superbad,” Booksmart is a hilarious comedy about friendship. Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut follows two academic over-achievers (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) who come to the realization that they didn’t need to sacrifice having fun in order to graduate. In an effort to salvage their high school experience (and catch up to their peers), they set out to live as many pivotal teenage milestones as possible over the course of one epic night.

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Written and directed by Jonah Hill, Mid90s is a love letter to ’90s kids and skate culture. Thirteen-year-old Stevie struggles with a difficult home life—his brother (Lucas Hedges) is abusive and his mother is distant. When he befriends a group of teenagers at a Los Angeles skate shop, they become an escape from his troubles. Under their influence, he experiences what being a teenager in the ’90s is all about (for better or worse).

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Originally named Toy’s House, The Kings of Summer follows a trio of teen boys looking for an escape to their dysfunctional home lives. After an explosive end to an otherwise ordinary family game night, Joe Toy (Nick Robinson) is determined to pack up and leave his family troubles behind. He discovers a clearing in the woods where he plans to build a house and live off the land with his best friend, Patrick (Gabriel Basso), and an unusual boy named Biaggio (Moisés Arias).

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The follow-up to Pixar’s beloved Inside Out introduces four entirely new emotions that any person who has gone through puberty can probably relate to: Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). Now officially a teenager, Riley (Kensington Tallman) must navigate this new emotional minefield as she confronts a future that involves going to high school without her two best friends.

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Adapted from Ned Vizzini’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, It’s Kind of a Funny Story explores mental health issues through a touchingly quirky perspective. The film centers around Craig (Keir Gilchrist), a suicidal teenager who voluntarily checks himself into a clinic. Due to a temporary closure of the youth wing, Craig must spend five days on the adult’s psychiatric floor, where he develops a bond with a patient named Bobby (Zach Galifianakis).

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This Oscar-winning films follows the struggles of the titular Juno (Elliot Page), a 16-year-old teenager who gets pregnant after sleeping with her longtime friend, Paulie (Michael Cera). Opting to give her baby up for adoption, Juno decides on couple Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) as the unborn child’s prospective parents. While she develops her own bond with the Lorings, Juno is still figuring out how she truly feels about Paulie.

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Forced to vacation at a Massachusetts beach house with his negligent mom and her snobby boyfriend, 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) fully expects to have a disappointing summer—until he meets Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb), the daughter of the beach house’s next-door neighbors. Despite his introverted tendencies, his bond with Susanna and his job at a nearby waterpark encourages Duncan to open up in ways he never has before.

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This Barry Jenkins-helmed film—which won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay in 2017—explores different chapters of the life of its protagonist, Chiron. Played by actors Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes, Chiron struggles to reconcile his complicated past with his identity as a Black queer man.

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