Netflix Top 5 Teen Movies

I so often have conversations with other Netflix users (particularly in the UK) who are frustrated by the service. They argue that whenever they think of something that they actually want to watch, Netflix inevitably doesn’t have it.

I think that’s the wrong attitude. Netflix isn’t about what you want to watch. It’s about gaining an encyclopaedic knowledge of movies from the eighties and nineties in addition to total flops from the last five years.

In other words, it’s awesome.

Particularly, I think, where teen movies are concerned. Here are my top five:

1. Clueless

Emma has been my favourite Jane Austen book since forever, so a movie adaptation of it featuring Paul Rudd? My idea of heaven. I have watched this movie so many times. Sher, our Emma-equivalent, knows how to play the system. It isn’t about getting good grades, it’s about your ability to argue up the bad ones. She has an opinion on everything and she isn’t afraid to share it. Think Blair off Gossip Girl, but less insane.

2. Say Anything

(Me too, Lloyd).

I have had a deep and lasting love for John Cusack ever since I first saw Gross Pointe Blank when I was thirteen. It was obvious before I even saw this movie that I would love Lloyd Dobler. He’s like Martin from Grosse Pointe Blank except he doesn’t murder people for a living.

In this movie he works hard to date Diane, the school brain with big life plans. Her dad doesn’t approve. But then he goes to jail, therefore solving the issue. The main lesson to be learned here is to be less of a criminal than your girlfriend’s dad.

3. Charlie Bartlett

I watched this movie because Robert Downey Jr is in it. It turned out to be pretty great.

4. Vampire Academy

Everything about this movie is utterly ridiculous. When I was a student I volunteer for my university’s helpline. A couple times a month I sat in a small office all night while students called to talk about their problems. The other volunteer and I watched this on a quiet night. Trashy movies are my favourite way to bond.

There are good vampires and evil vampires, psychic connections, dead cats and that thing where people stop to have sex despite the fact that are really urgent matters to be dealt with elsewhere.

5. Whip It

This is one of those movies where a girl who has been pushed into an uncomfortable box by her mother finds what she’s actually passionate about. It is a movie about women and their relationships. I liked it a lot.