coming of age
by malnarwen | created - 11 Nov 2010 | updated - 25 Nov 2010 | PublicIn no particular order. These are some of my favorite "coming of age" films, no matter what "age" it is (childhood, teen, young adult...). These movies capture important, transformational moments in the lives of the characters.
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1. Empire Records (1995)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Twenty-four hours in the lives of the young employees at Empire Records when they all grow up and become young adults thanks to each other and the manager. They all face the store joining a chain store with strict rules.
Director: Allan Moyle | Stars: Anthony LaPaglia, Debi Mazar, Maxwell Caulfield, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 61,900 | Gross: $0.30M
2. SLC Punk! (1998)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
In the early 1980s Stevo, and Heroin Bob are the only two dedicated punks in conservative Salt Lake City.
Director: James Merendino | Stars: Matthew Lillard, Michael A. Goorjian, Annabeth Gish, Jennifer Lien
Votes: 32,818 | Gross: $0.30M
3. Detroit Rock City (1999)
R | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music
In 1978, four rebellious teenagers try to scam their way into a KISS concert.
Director: Adam Rifkin | Stars: Edward Furlong, Giuseppe Andrews, James DeBello, Sam Huntington
Votes: 41,359 | Gross: $4.22M
4. Now and Then (1995)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Four 12-year-old girls grow up together during an eventful small-town summer in 1970.
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter | Stars: Christina Ricci, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, Thora Birch
Votes: 32,436 | Gross: $27.40M
5. Dead Poets Society (1989)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Votes: 546,301 | Gross: $95.86M
6. Girl, Interrupted (1999)
R | 127 min | Biography, Drama
A directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy
Votes: 211,404 | Gross: $28.87M
7. Thirteen (2003)
R | 100 min | Drama
A thirteen-year-old girl's relationship with her mother is put to the test as she discovers drugs, sex, and petty crime in the company of her cool but troubled best friend.
Director: Catherine Hardwicke | Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Holly Hunter, Nikki Reed, Vanessa Hudgens
Votes: 98,055 | Gross: $4.60M
8. Foxfire (1996)
R | 102 min | Drama, Romance
Legs Sadovsky gets four other high school girls to think for themselves and react to a teacher's sexual harassment, which gets them suspended. They bond, and rebel, at an abandoned house.
Director: Annette Haywood-Carter | Stars: Hedy Burress, Angelina Jolie, Jenny Lewis, Jenny Shimizu
Votes: 9,753 | Gross: $0.26M
9. What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
PG-13 | 118 min | Drama
A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen
Votes: 254,142 | Gross: $9.17M
10. Reality Bites (1994)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A documentary filmmaker and her fellow Generation X graduates face life after college, looking for work and love in Houston.
Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn
Votes: 53,650 | Gross: $20.98M
11. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy
A popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones
Votes: 386,579 | Gross: $70.14M
12. Harriet the Spy (1996)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. But when her friends find her secret notebook, the tables are turned on her. Can she win them back and still keep on going with the spy business?
Director: Bronwen Hughes | Stars: Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Gregory Smith, Vanessa Chester
Votes: 11,063 | Gross: $26.54M
13. Little Women (1994)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes
Votes: 63,609 | Gross: $50.08M
14. The Goonies (1985)
PG | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate's long-lost treasure.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman
Votes: 298,492 | Gross: $61.50M
15. The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Seven junior-high-school girls organize a daycare camp for children while at the same time experiencing classic adolescent growing pains.
Director: Melanie Mayron | Stars: Schuyler Fisk, Bre Blair, Rachael Leigh Cook, Larisa Oleynik
Votes: 6,211 | Gross: $9.69M
16. Dirty Dancing (I) (1987)
PG-13 | 100 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle.
Director: Emile Ardolino | Stars: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes
Votes: 256,498 | Gross: $0.62M
17. Across the Universe (2007)
PG-13 | 133 min | Drama, Fantasy, History
The music of The Beatles and the Vietnam War form the backdrop for the romance between an upper-class American girl and a poor Liverpudlian artist.
Director: Julie Taymor | Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs
Votes: 114,276 | Gross: $51.66M
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