Something magical happens with teen movies and how they capture first crushes, fights, and even the gossip mills of the hallways. Even if you’re not a teenager anymore, these movies still remind you of your younger years, and inspire you to get reacquainted with old friends and lovers. Certainly it’s a genre that will never go extinct, even though different generations behave in different ways, and that’s shown in every movie.

When thinking of teen comedies, movies such as 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless and Mean Girls will probably come to mind, all of them critically acclaimed, world-renowned films that launched their stars to success. In fact, the popularity of Mean Girls still continues to this day, and a musical movie is now in the making.

However, while there are dozens of memorable teen comedies, others went under the radar and no one even remembers them. What dictates the success or failure of a film? Some of them may have been a matter of quality, but others may be due to bad timing, poor casting choices, or simply reasons we don’t even know about. Nevertheless, there are plenty of movies that, even though they were not quite successful, are among Hollywood’s hidden gems, underrated by the box office even though they are actually pretty good. That is why in this article we will review ten teen comedies that are actually good, but nobody remembers.

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10 Angus

Angus (Charlie Talbert making his film debut) was a self-conscious, overweight teenager who suffered from bullying by mean Rick Sanford and his gang. He was in love with beautiful Melissa Lefevre (Ariana Richards), Rick’s girlfriend, and due to his shyness he thought he had no chance of winning her heart. However, it came as a surprise when he was chosen to dance with her at a school party, and thanks to the help of his friend Troy (Chris Owen), his grandfather (George c. Scott), and a few failed dance lessons, Angus attempted to overcome his inhibitions and at the same time face his rival in order to stop his humiliation.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

This 1995 film was directed by Patrick Read Johnson and based on the story A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune by Chris Crutcher. Among the cast was Kathy Bates, who turned 73 this year.

9 I Love You, Beth Cooper

Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) had something really important to say in his high school graduation speech. And so, in front of all his classmates and their families, he announced: “I love you, Beth Cooper!”. It should have been a sweet and romantic moment, except for the fact that Beth (Hayden Panettiere), the head cheerleader, had never actually spoken to Denis. But to the protagonist’s surprise, Beth and her friends showed up at Denis’ house that same night, but so did Beth’s hunky boyfriend, ready to take Denis down.That was why, with the girl’s help, they set out on a getaway that ended up being the best night of Denis’ life…and the worst! I Love You, Beth Cooper was directed by the world-renowned Chris Columbus, although the reviews of the film were not very good, and on Rotten Tomatoes it only garnered a score of 13%.

8 Skateboard the Movie

     Warner Bros.

This 1978 film by George Gage told the story of Manny Bloom (Allen Garfield), a Hollywood agent who was heavily in debt with a powerful bookie. To earn some quick cash, Manny put together a team of exceptionally talented skateboarders and signed them up for a race with a $20,000 prize pool.There’s just one problem: the man was a nervous wreck who was out of his mind, constantly yelling at young skaters Brad (Leif Garrett), Jason (Richard Van der Wyk), Tony (Tony Alva) and Randi (Pam Kenneally), whose only purpose was to skate, drink beer and get into shenanigans.

7 Edge of Seventeen

Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) was a weird high school student who couldn’t live without her best friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson), but everything took a turn when she discovered that her faithful friend was sneaking around with her older brother (Blake Jenner). In response to this situation, she decided to cut off her relationship with Krista and fell into a deep depression that was reflected in her academic record and her everyday life. Because of all this, Nadine’s professor (Woody Harrelson) decided to act as her counselor to help her move forward.

The screenwriter and director of this 2016 comedy was Kelly Fremon, and the film got rave reviews, becoming “certified fresh” with a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

6 Little Darlings

This 1980 Ronald F. Maxwell film was about a group of girls who decided to spend their summer at a teenage youth camp. Two of them set up a challenge in which the first one to lose her virginity would win a lot of money. This duo couldn’t have been more different: there was Ferris (Tatum O’Neal), a naive girl from a wealthy family who was immediately attracted to one of the camp’s instructors. Then there was Angel (Kristy McNichol), mischievous and very experienced for her young age, but she fell for Randy’s (Matt Dillon) charms. The bet was hampered by the dark intentions of Cinder (Krista Errickson), a young prankster who would interfere in Randy and Angel’s relationship causing revolution throughout the camp.

5 Secret Admirer

Michael Ryan was a 16-year-old boy who, on the last day of school, received an anonymous letter from a stranger swearing eternal love. With the hope that it was from the girl of his dreams, Deborah Ann Fimple, and helped by his best friends, Roger and Toni (the real writer of the love note), he decided to write a letter to Deborah expressing his feelings. Oddly enough, the letter also found its way into other hands, leading to more than one confusion among the teens and even their families.

This 1985 film was written and directed by David Greenwalt in his feature film directing debut, and starred Thomas Howell, Lori Loughlin, Fred Ward and Kelly Preston, who sadly passed away last year after a long battle with cancer.

4 Teaching Mrs. Tingle

In this movie written and directed by Kevin Williamson we followed the story of Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes), an excellent student who needs to get an A in History to obtain the scholarship to continue her studies.Unfortunately, the history teacher turns out to be Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren, flamboyant host of the new Harry Potter game show “Hogwarts: Tournament of Houses”), who has been terrorizing the school’s students for twenty years. And, to make matters worse, Leigh Ann and two of her friends, Luke (Barry Watson) and Jo Lynn (Marisa Coughlan) have been falsely accused of cheating on the exam and are forced to prove their innocence.Having had enough of the mistreatment, the three friends decide it’s time for the teacher to be taught a lesson and they planned something beyond their imagination. However, things did not go as they expected, and they would have 48 hours to escape from a no-win situation.

3 ​​​The Girl Next Door

Eighteen-year-old Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) was the picture perfect student.A hard-working, responsible, studious boy who had never properly enjoyed life, until he fell in love with his new neighbor, the beautiful and seemingly innocent Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert). But a surprising discovery put their relationship to the test: she was a famous adult film performer. In the end, Danielle helped Matthew come out of his shell and discover that sometimes you have to risk everything for the people you love.

The Girl Next Door was directed by Luke Greenfield and the feedback from critics and audiences was quite mediocre, earning just 56% on Rotten Tomatoes.

2 ATL

Directed by Chris Robinson, ATL followed a group of teenage sons of working-class men whose lives were torn between their passion for hip-hop and roller-skating. But while the friends were planning their future after high school, they had to face several challenges on and off the track that transformed their lives forever.

The cast of this film included Clifford “T.I.” Harris, Lauren London, Evan Ross, Big Boi, Mykelti Williamson and Keith David.

1 The Boy Who Could Fly

This 1986 film, written and directed by Nick Castle starred Lucy Deakins, Jay Underwood and Fred Savage. It followed the life of Milly, a young girl who moved with her family to a new suburban home shortly after her father’s death. Once there, they faced a series of personal problems and difficulties adjusting to the new school, yet Milly found a friend in Eric, her autistic neighbor.And she discovered that Eric had a genuine fascination with flying, through which he was capable of changing the world around him.