Let’s Talk Genre: Teen Films

Every generation has their Rebel Without a Cause – a film that speaks to teens by effectively connecting their era and their angst. Here’re some capsule reviews of a few such films.

The Van
     Back in the 70s (the nineteen seventies, thank you), when gas was still under a dollar, vans -- real vans, not minivans -- ruled the streets by day and the lakefronts by night (wink, wink). About a dozen film plots of the time could be interchanged but they basically all involved a hot girl, a dork and well-appointed van (which means it had a waterbed). The Van, which featured Danny DeVito for about seven minutes, is as good (or bad) as any of them to represent the era.
     Biggest goof: The film’s de facto theme is the Sammy Johns hit “Chevy Van” but the make of the one used in the film is actually a Dodge.

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The Breakfast Club
     John Hughes iconic paean to assimilation -- featuring most of the Brat Pack as the jock, the prom queen, the geek, the wastoid, and the self-proclaimed outcast thrown together for a Saturday detention. Incorporates cool hallway slides and a score that implores “… don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t … don’t you … forget about me” and thanks to the latest JCPenney commercials, we won’t.
     Best line: “Don’t mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns.”

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Juno
     It started with a chair ... or boredom or the heady musk of orange Tic Tacs. Not the first film to deal with the topic, obviously, but new wisecracks help diffuse an old dilemma. Jason Bateman, as Mark Loring, is the real standout and about the only unfavorable thing that can be said of the film is that it never quite explains that Juno’s entire persona, in all of its quirky cuteness, is a luxury, the fruit of the safety net her parents provide -- to see how most of these stories really end, one doesn’t have to look much further than the "Maury Povich Show." None of that matters, of course, because a large part of an entire generation has embraced Juno.
     Best cameo: The Office’s Rainn Wilson as store clerk Rollo (“That ain't no Etch-A-Sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, Homeskillet.”)

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What say you? To what film did you best relate in your teen years? American Graffiti? Clueless? Fast Times at Ridgemont High? American Pie? Blackboard Jungle?

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Comments

[Hannah]

I don't think that's the best breakfast club line, my personal favorites are "I've never done it either. I'm not a nymphomaniac, I'm a compulsive liar," and the eternal "No, Dad. What about YOU?!"