Although many coming-of-age comedy movies are critically acclaimed box office hits, some of the genre’s best offerings go under the radar of even committed movie fans. Coming-of-age comedies are a tricky genre to pull off. If a coming-of-age movie is too dark, then it can easily become melodramatic and end up alienating its target audience of teenagers. However, if a coming-of-age comedy is too light-hearted and focused on delivering laughs, the movie will almost certainly fail to capture the unique emotional intensity of the teenage years.
This balancing act is one that some iconic coming-of-age movies have pulled off, but there is no doubt that adding comedy into the mix makes this tonal triumph even trickier. Although humor is an important element of every coming-of-age story, too many gags can make a movie aimed at teens feel over-the-top and less relatable as a result. However, what makes certain coming-of-age comedies so impressive is their deft ability to touch on truths about teenage life without pandering, lecturing, or devolving into pure silliness.
10 Unpregnant
2020’s Poignant Road Trip Dramedy
2020’s Unpregnant sees its teenage heroine Veronica learn that she is pregnant and unable to access an abortion in her home state without parental permission. Undaunted, Veronica travels to Arizona with her best friend and encounters a string of wacky characters and surreal adventures along the way. Although Unpregnant touches on some heavy themes, what makes this teen comedy-drama so impressive is its unsentimental attitude toward its subject. Veronica and her friend feel like believable teenagers.
9 She’s The Man
2006’s Hysterical Shakespeare Riff
While Unpregnant takes an admirable stab at handling hefty themes with a light touch, 2006’s She’s the Man is a much sillier affair. After 10 Things I Hate About You’s Shakespeare adaptation popularized the idea of modernizing Shakespeare’s work for teen comedy movies, She’s The Man converted Twelfth Night into a chaotic gender-bending comedy. Amanda Bynes puts in what is arguably the funniest performance of her career as an ambitious soccer player whose attempts to prioritize her favorite sport spiral out of control, while Channing Tatum shows his early comedic potential as her bemused but well-meaning roommate.
8 Submarine
2010’s Quirky British Indie Classic
2010’s Submarine saw comedic actor Richard Ayoade make his directorial debut with a bizarre mixture of romance, melodrama, and comedy. The story of an awkward fifteen-year-old who tries to balance his first relationship with meddling in the affairs of his parents, Submarine is a unique movie whose tonal jumps between comedy and tragedy work surprisingly well. Anchored by two stellar turns from leads Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige, this is an unpredictable coming-of-age comedy with heart.
7 The Spectacular Now
2013’s Star Vehicle For Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley
2013’s The Spectacular Now marks the last moment before Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, and Brie Larson all became major movie stars and the loose, charming drama uses their collective charisma for all it is worth. Teller plays a hard-drinking high schooler with shades of his future Top Gun: Maverick role while Woodley plays his fickle, brooding love interest. Far from a typical Manic Pixie Dream Girl romance, The Spectacular Now’s love story sees a pair of troubled souls grow up together in a story that is as moving as it is funny.
6 Get Over It
2001’s Goofy Midsummer Night’s Dream Update
Where The Spectacular Now has poignant character drama, Get Over It has Sisqo, Carmen Electra, and Martin Short playing supporting roles. It’s another ludicrously goofy, early 2000s teen movie, with this loose Shakespeare adaptation riffing on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However, while Get Over It is admittedly the broadest comedy on this list, it is hard to turn down any movie that features a stacked cast of future stars like Kirsten Dunst, Ben Foster, Colin Hanks, Mila Kunis, and Zoe Saldana.
5 The Wackness
2008’s Hazy Nostalgic 90s-Set Dramedy
Although Josh Peck’s Oppenheimer role cast off the actor’s Nickelodeon origins for good, 2008’s The Wackness was his first attempt to establish himself as a more serious screen talent. All things considered, it was a pretty successful attempt as Peck plays a listless dope dealer who spends his summer hanging out with his aging psychiatrist. Ben Kingsley predictably steals the show as this psychiatrist in the midst of a midlife crisis, but Peck imbues the movie’s antihero with a sense of sweet, inarticulate charm and Olivia Thirlby is superb as his love interest.
4 Kings of Summer
2013’s Boys In The Woods Adventure Story
2013’s Kings of Summer sees a trio of teenage friends construct an ambitious tree house deep in the woods, with the group eventually deciding to move into their new home and live out their final summer before college in the shack. Interpersonal tensions inevitably arise and things eventually reach a boiling point, but not before Kings of Summer has gotten a lot of laughs out of its premise. Hazy, nostalgic, and bittersweet, this one is essential viewing for anyone who remembers scarped knees fondly.
3 Reach the Rock
1998’s Forgotten John Hughes Classic
Although teen movie legend John Hughes is best known for major studio projects such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club, his most underrated coming-of-age movie came later in his career. The disarmingly simple Reach the Rock is about a small-town cop and a rebellious teen’s battle of wits and wills across one long night in their lonely, empty hometown. Featuring a pre-Walking Dead Norman Reedus, this unusually slow, thoughtful Hughes project has a charm that sets it apart from his bigger movies.
2 Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging
2008’s Sweet British Teen Comedy
2008’s Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging might be incredibly British, but it is also a classic coming-of-age comedy that fans of the subgenre shouldn’t miss out on. More family-friendly than Submarine, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging still manages to cram some impressively cringe-worthy gags into its fast-paced runtime. The story of a lovable teenager’s doomed attempts to fit in and woo her crush, this classic benefits from stellar early performances from Aaron Taylor Johnson and Georgia Groome.
1 The Way Way Back
2013’s Perfect Summer Love Story
2013’s The Way Way Back sees Sam Rockwell play the charming, loquacious, and underemployed mentor to a quiet, reserved teenager as he comes out of his shell over the course of a long summer. Set in a water park that is falling apart, this sweet dramedy features one of Rockwell’s best performances as well as a sweet love story and a jarringly effective villainous turn from Steve Carell. An all-time great coming-of-age comedy movie, The Way Way Back is a must-watch.
