As a connoisseur of coming-of-age nostalgia gut punches, I bring to you the 5 movies every high schooler should watch before going off to college. When there’s so much happening and so much excitement, sometimes you need to sit down and take advice from the movies like any sensible adult does.
5. Booksmart
I wasn’t sure if this one was too obvious and would leave readers with a Ladybird groan of “well of course this is on the list.” But upon some further thinking, I realized people who are graduating high school right now were eleven and twelve years old the year this one came out. Once I got over my initial horror at this realization, I decided I needed to let any girl graduating high school know about it if they don’t already. If you’re wondering where the movies full of stupid coming of age endeavors are that feature girls, look no further. While I’m still waiting for a girl version of Stand By Me, this is an amazing movie filled with laughter, tears, and anything you could want from a movie about high school ending.
4. Little Darlings
I went for a bit of a deep cut with this one. Matt Dillon of Outsiders‘ fame debut movie, this is a summer camp classic. Directed by a woman, this is one of the only 1980s movies I’ve viewed about female friendship that portrays it perfectly. While it’s about high schoolers, there is never a better time to bank in on summer camp nostalgia to Blondie and John Lennon than the summer before college.Â
And more importantly, to remember there’s still time, if not more time to behave like this in college. The clock for being stupid and having fun isn’t ending like you might think it is, it’s actually just beginning.Â
3. Little Miss Sunshine
I also wasn’t too sure about including this one, but there’s something about a road trip with an insane family that really makes you appreciate the new freedom you’re going to have. This is one of my favorite movies of all time and I genuinely recommend it to anyone going through any hard time or even good time in their life. I’ve carried the lessons I learned from this movie with me through my whole life and there’s no better time to remind yourself how much they matter than right now.
2. Stand By Me
As I mentioned earlier, this is my favorite movie. Of. All. Time. I know most of us have seen it but I don’t know if everyone’s aware how much this is the perfect movie to watch during any transition period in your life. I watched this movie the night before I started college and was left staring at the wall in silence for an hour (and I’m a commuter student who wasn’t even moving out.) Sometimes all you need to understand where you’re at in life is a movie about 12 year old boys on bikes. When in doubt, I always return to movies about them because I think they know more than the rest of us.
- Dazed and Confused
There is no more important movie to watch when graduating high school. If you take anything from this article watch this movie. In June of my senior year, I watched this movie 9 times in one week. There is seriously nothing that can make you feel as angsty about breaking free from high school as this movie. Even for me, who was terrified of graduating, this movie will always bring me back to being 18 and getting ready for senior sunset, ironing my graduation robe. With a soundtrack that rivals Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and no real “plot” to it, this is the ultimate end of high school movie. Even though it takes place in the 70s I found it to be some of the best representation of how I was feeling as an 18 year old.
And above all else, you just gotta keep livin’ man. L-I-V-I-N.