Coming-of-Age Movies for Teens and Parents
Coming-of-age films are the rare kind a teenager and a parent can watch from opposite ends and both feel recognized. A 15-year-old sees the friend who drifts away or the fight about college; the parent sees the other side of the same argument. These are about growing up in its many forms: first love, friendship, identity, family and leaving home.
Every pick was checked against our parents' guide, and the rule is that every movie here has a guide age of 16 or under. That's a wide range, so the most useful thing to know is where a film's difficulty lies. Some are mild on screen but heavy in subject: Dead Poets Society turns on a student's suicide, Little Women on a sister's death, and Look Back on a sudden killing. Others are light in spirit but frank about sex, drinking and language, like Lady Bird, Booksmart and Sing Street. The classics are here, but most of the list was made since 2010.
The age on each title is the youngest we'd watch it with, not a target, and the ages here run from 9 for Turning Red to 16 for Lady Bird. Each title's badge opens its full guide. For more by age, see The Best Movies for 13-Year-Olds and Movies for 15-Year-Olds. If a series fits your evenings better, try shows to watch with your teen.
CODA
Movie · 2021The best place to start: Ruby, the only hearing member of a deaf fishing family and teased for it at school, must choose between them and a future in music, and it won Best Picture. It's cruder than its sweet reputation: she overhears her parents having loud sex, the family's signed jokes are frank, her father smokes a joint, and there's one f-word among many s-words.
Lady Bird
Movie · 2017The definitive film about a last year at home, told through a daughter and mother who love each other and fight constantly, and likely to start a real conversation. It's 16+ for good reason: frequent f-words, a teen's brief first time, a glimpse of male nudity in a magazine, teens getting high, and drinking that ends in the hospital.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Movie · 2018Miles Morales's real struggle is fitting in at a new school, living up to his police-officer dad and working out who he is, so it belongs here as much as on any superhero list. There's nothing sexual, no drinking and only very mild language. Two deaths hit hard, one of them a family member who dies in Miles's arms.
Sing Street
Movie · 2016The most joyful film here: a 15-year-old in 1980s Dublin starts a band to impress a girl, and the original songs are genuinely good. Underneath are his parents' collapsing marriage, a bully and a harsh headmaster. Expect one spoken f-word, homophobic and racial slurs, sex talk with nothing shown, teens smoking, and an older brother who smokes hash in front of him.
Stand by Me
Movie · 1986Four 12-year-olds walk the railroad tracks to see a dead body, and few films catch the last summer before friends drift apart so well. The boys swear constantly, including f-words and slurs, and smoke. They face a train, leeches and a knife-wielding gang, and the dead boy is shown. Abusive fathers and a brother's death sit underneath.
Eighth Grade
Movie · 2018The most accurate film about being 13 and online, best watched together. Kayla's last week of middle school includes an active-shooter drill and a tense, upsetting scene where an older boy alone with her in a car pushes her to take off her shirt. The R is for f-words and frank talk about oral sex. No nudity and no drinking.
Little Women (2019)
Movie · 2019One of the gentlest films here and a lovely one to share across generations: four sisters grow up and make different choices about love, work and money. There's almost nothing to flag beyond period smoking and a young man who drinks after a heartbreak. The hard part is emotional, one sister's long illness and death. The back-and-forth timeline needs attention.
Love, Simon
Movie · 2018A big-studio teen romance with a gay lead and a family who get it right, which makes it a warm one to watch together. Simon is blackmailed and then outed online before he's ready. Parents should know about one f-word and about a dozen s-words, homophobic slurs, a cafeteria scene where two bullies mime sex to mock a classmate, and teens drinking at a party.
Bend It Like Beckham
Movie · 2002A warm, funny film about a British Sikh girl who secretly plays soccer, and the pull between what you want and what your family wants. The PG-13 is for a few s-words, slurs aimed at the heroine, crude jokes, a couple caught fooling around in a parked car, and young players drinking at clubs. Some gay jokes have dated.
The Edge of Seventeen
Movie · 2016A sharp, funny portrait of a girl who feels everyone is leaving her behind, still grieving the father she saw die. Expect roughly 15 f-words, an explicit text spelled out on screen, teen binge drinking, and a boy who gropes her in his car and pulls at her underwear until she shoves him off. She also says repeatedly that she wants to die.
Turning Red
Movie · 2022The pick for a family with a just-turned-teen: a 13-year-old's red panda transformations stand in for puberty, and the mother-daughter story is the real subject. It's open about periods, pads and crushes, and Mei lies to her strict mom to sneak off to a forbidden concert. Language and peril stay mild throughout.
Dead Poets Society
Movie · 1989An unconventional teacher, a strict 1950s prep school and boys learning to think for themselves. Know before you start that a student dies by suicide after clashing with his controlling father; the shot is off screen, but his parents finding him and his friends' grief are shown. The boys smoke constantly, and there's a topless magazine photo and some s-words.
The Holdovers
Movie · 2023A lonely student, a gruff teacher and a cook grieving her son, killed in Vietnam, stuck at a boarding school over Christmas 1970, and a good one for a parent to watch beside an older teen. It's R mostly for language, with about 35 f-words by one count. Teens smoke a joint, the teacher drinks constantly, and a pornographic magazine shows bare breasts.
Persepolis
Movie · 2007A girl grows up through Iran's revolution and war, then struggles alone as a teenager in Vienna, drawn in stark black and white. It suits teens ready for history that hurts: relatives are jailed and executed, bombs fall on neighbors, and Marjane later attempts suicide with pills. As a teen she drinks, smokes and tries pot. One f-word.
Juno
Movie · 2007A quick-witted 16-year-old gets pregnant and chooses adoption, and the film treats her, her friend and her parents with real respect. Parents should know her first time is shown briefly in flashback without nudity, the dialogue is full of sexual slang, there's one f-word, and Juno visits an abortion clinic before changing her mind.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Movie · 2012A tender film about a lonely freshman taken in by two seniors, and one of the most honest about how friendship can save someone. It's also among the heaviest here: a friend's suicide, child sexual abuse by a relative revealed in brief flashbacks, a gay student beaten by his father, LSD and pot brownies, and Charlie's own suicidal crisis near the end. Best watched together.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Movie · 2023The film of Judy Blume's novel, and the right pick for a parent and a preteen or young teen, especially a girl, facing the same questions: bras, periods, friendship and religion. There's almost no swearing or violence. The PG-13 is for frank puberty talk, a peek at a men's magazine with nothing visible, and a kissing game.
Booksmart
Movie · 2019Two overachieving best friends try to cram four years of fun into the night before graduation, and their friendship is the heart of it. Parents watching with a teen should know it's 16+: more than 70 f-words, a sexual encounter between two girls with undressing and touching, and drinking, pot and drug-laced strawberries that set off a hallucination.
Jojo Rabbit
Movie · 2019A 10-year-old Hitler Youth recruit, whose imaginary friend is a clownish Hitler, finds his mother is hiding a Jewish girl, and slowly grows up. The comedy is broad but the subject isn't: hanged bodies in the town square, children sent into battle, and a parent's death that Jojo discovers himself. One f-word and a few s-words.
The Breakfast Club
Movie · 1985Five strangers in Saturday detention find they have more in common than they thought, and many parents will remember it well. Watch with care: around 25 f-words, the group getting high together, and a scene now widely seen as sexual assault that the film plays casually. One student admits he thought about suicide, and another shows a cigar burn from his abusive father.
Look Back
Movie · 2024Under an hour long and one of the most moving anime films of recent years: two girls become rivals, then friends, through drawing manga. Then news breaks of a deadly attack at an art college, and someone important is among those killed. There's no swearing, sex or substance use, but the grief is intense and stays unresolved.
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Picks are editorial recommendations. Streaming availability changes by region and over time — the “where to stream” links check current availability on JustWatch.