The best teen movies to stream on Netflix in the UK

Director Alice Wu

Cast Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, Alexxis Lemire

When straight-A student Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) is asked by the school jock, Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) to help him write love letters to his crush Aster (Alexxis Lemire), she accepts. Not only does she need the money, she harbours a secret: she has a crush on Aster, too. Thus begins a queer take on this classic teen romance trope, and which results in a tender, funny and smart teen (semi) romantic comedy.

Director: Joe Cornish

Cast: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Nick Frost

Don’t let the 15 rating scare you off. Attack the Block is very much a teen movie: a gleefully irreverent alien-invasion adventure positioning a group of kids from a south London estate as foul-mouthed successors to the Goonies. There’s a fair share of swears and gore, but there’s also tons of heart to balance things out… plus when’s the last time you met a 15-year-old who didn’t swear like a sailor? Amid the considerable excitement, you can actually pinpoint the moment John Boyega becomes a movie star – it’s when he’s running in slow motion, Roman candles ablaze with a dead alien strapped to his back to save the day.

Director Richard Linklater

Cast Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Sarah Silverman

Musician-turned-teacher Dewey Finn may not get you through your GCSEs, but you’ll have a damn fine time doing it. Played with gonzo exuberance by Jack Black, the hero of this infectious, alternative high-school musical is a timeless champion for following your passions all the way down the fretboard. The result – Kes by way of Hendrix – has spawned TV and stage spin-offs, but the original is still the hard-rockin' best. 

Director: Sarah Gavron 

Cast: Bukky Bakray, Anastasia Dymitrow, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson, Ruby Stokes, Kosar Ali, Tawheda Begum 

This tough, authentic and heart-swelling coming-of-age drama is London’s answer to The 400 Blows – only with extra Snapchatting, can-kicking, trash-talking energy. It’s the story of Rocks (newcomer Bukky Bakray), a British-Nigerian teenager whose mum vanishes, leaving her and her adorbs younger brother to make their own way in a daunting city. Luckily, she has resilience and a posse of pals to help her along.

Director Susan Johnson

Cast Lana Condor, Noah Centineo

To deal with her intense crushes, Lara Jean (Lana Condor) writes secret love letters to the boys she lusts after, which no one is ever meant to see. Of course, these letters end up being sent out and Lara Jean must deal with her feelings, and the implications of the letters, head on.

This Netflix Original movie, based on the book of the same name by Jenny Han, has been praised by all corners of the internet, especially for the performances of Lana Condor and Noah Centineo, who plays love interest Peter Kavinsky. In fact, it's proven so popular that it's spawned two sequels — PS I Still Love You and Always and Forever. 

Director: John Hughes

Cast: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jennifer Grey

Oh, sure, Ferris is kind of a sociopathic twit who leaves ruined lives in the wake of his pursuit of happiness. But that awareness is the welcome hangover you get after going all in on a blissed-out, charismatic tale of truancy, flippancy and carpe-ing the diem. This is John Hughes at his most joyful, a film that ditches the director’s signature high-school angst for a full-throated celebration of being a teenager on the lam.

Director John Butler

Cast Fionn O'Shea, Nicholas Galitzine, Andrew Scott

This charming indie comedy will resonate with anyone who felt like they didn't fit in during their teens. Set in an all-boys boarding school in Ireland where rugby reigns supreme, we meet Ned, the school's outsider. However, after he forges an unlikely friendship with the school's new star player, Conor, things at school start to change, both for better and for worse.

Director: Greg Mottola

Cast: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Credited with reviving the teen sex comedy, Superbad is actually a much sweeter, smarter take than those from the genre’s heyday, while being every bit as a raunchy. Oh, and it might be funnier than most of its predecessors, too. Its plot is rather standard-issue: two awkward high school seniors (Michael Cera and Jonah Hill) make a last-ditch effort to ensure they don’t graduate as virgins. But if it feels unusually authentic, that’s because Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg started writing the script back when they actually were desperately hormonal teenagers. 

Director: Amy Heckerling

Cast: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy

Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and Dionne (Stacey Dash) are two perfectly coordinated Beverley Hills besties always looking to do a good deed. Their next "project" comes in the shape of slacker girl Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy), the newbie in High School who they decide needs a makeover. Amy Heckerling’s seminal movie (itself a makeover of Jane Austen’s Emma), contains some seriously extra fashion choices and a squeal-inducing happy ending. 

Director Kelly Fremon Craig

Cast Hailee Steinfeld, Blake Jenner, Haley Lu Richardson

Hailee Steinfeld plays awkward 16-year-old Nadine, a sarky teen who is whipped into a mean-girl fury when her best friend starts dating her older brother. Under her barbed exterior, though, is a young girl in pain, and Steinfeld is able to play an asshole while also eliciting sympathy from viewers as her character slowly learns that nobody’s got the secret to being happy – everyone feels alone and empty. A reminder that being a teenager is the absolute worst.

Director: Henry Bradbeer

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Clafin

Young Enola Holmes is every bit as cunning as her world famous detective brother, but being a teenage girl in the 19th century, she doesn’t have many opportunities to prove it – that is, until her mother suddenly goes missing. Millie Bobby Brown, endearingly confident in the title role, proves she can do much more than scarf down Eggos and beat up monsters with her mind.   

Directors Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe

Cast Danny McBride, Maya Rudoplh, Abbi Jacobson, Olivia Coleman

Too often, road-trip movies sideline their teen characters. This hyper-kinetic, singularly stylish road comedy from the team behind Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse places Abbi Jacobson's incoming college freshman in the pole position on a road-trip across the US with her tech-challenged dad and doting mother. Few films exhibit such a deft understanding of the current online teen culture. And fewer manage such a consistent balance between visual wizardry and rat-a-tat jokes that lane. Even if it were stripped of its robot-invasion plot, the Mitchells are worthy successors to the Griswold clan.

Director Vince Marcello

Cast Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney, Molly Ringwald

Starring the ’80s queen of teen Molly Ringwald, this Netflix Original movie follows all the gloriously sweet teen tropes. Best friends Elle and Lee have one rule: no getting involved with each other’s relatives. This gets a little complicated, however, after Elle becomes involved with Noah, Lee’s bad-boy older brother. Sure, it’s all fairly fluffy, but we’re really not complaining, and neither were audiences: A third film in the now-trilogy debuts August 11.

Director Leigh Janiak

Cast Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr

When it was announced that RL Stine's PG-rated teen-horror anthology would be getting a gore-slathered, profane adaptation, many were puzzled. But what unfolds in the first part of the now-trilogy is a perfectly calibrated pastiche of '90s teen-slasher classics, complete with likeable Scooby squad of leads, nice comic beats, on-the-nose Rob Zombie needle drops and a surprisingly queer-positive twist on star-crossed lovers. It's also an extremely gnarly slasher: This might be for teens, but it's not wearing kids' gloves. As such, it's certain to be cemented in the sleepover-cinema hall of fame.

Director: Jason Moore

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson, Elizabeth Banks

If you didn’t know any better, the first few minutes of Pitch Perfect will have you convinced you’re watching one of those obnoxiously cheery performing-arts dramas a la Step Up – that is, until one character vomits all over the stage in the middle of an acapella competition. In truth, the movie lightly subverts those films where good-looking kids sing and/or dance aggressively at one another, while still managing to actually be a movie about good-looking kids singing at each other. It turned into a surprise box-office sensation, spawned two sequels and one legit hit song: star Anna Kendrick’s ‘Cups.’

Director Craig Johnson

Cast Daniel Doheny, Antonio Marziale, Madeline Weinstein

It’s been dubbed Netflix’s take on Love, Simon, but to pigeonhole this cute coming out/coming-of-age story as a knock-off does it an injustice. We follow the titular Alex as he attempts to figure out his sexuality while also in a relationship with his best friend Claire. The introduction of Elliot, an out and proud gay teen who loves The B-52’s, only complicates matters, as does a hallucinogenic frog…

Director: Will Gluck

Cast: Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci

When Olive Penderghast (Stone) lies about losing her virginity to a college guy, she gets labelled a "dirty skank" by her peers. Instead of laying low, she embraces her reputation, going as far as to accept payment to say that she slept with some of the boys. However, the burden of her scarlet letter begins to weigh and Olive is left wondering whether honesty might actually be the best policy after all.

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart

Catherine Hardwicke's stylistic adaptation of the first book in Stephenie Meyer’s teen vampire series is the only one of the five films that’s actually worth watching. The colour pallette – all blues, greys and murky greens – and some excellent location work transport you to Forks, and even the performances aren’t as wooden as they become in later episodes. Sure, it’s a guilty, glittery pleasure, but sometimes vampires that sparkle in the sun are exactly what you need.

Director Ari Sandel

Cast Mae Whitman, Bella Thorne

Mae Whitman has oodles of charm as the down-to-earth lead of this harmlessly predictable high school comedy. Realising she’s known as the "duff," a Designated Ugly Fat Friend guys talk to to get to their hotter mates, she sets about reinventing herself. But a message of acceptance wins out in the end.

Director: Amy Poehler

Cast: Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Alysia Pascual-Pena

Sick of the rampant sexism at her high school, 16-year-old Vivian Carter starts an anonymous zine to give herself and her female classmates a forum to express themselves. Written and directed by Amy Poehler, it sounds like a Gen X period piece, but Moxie applies its punk rock style of feminism to the present day to show that the value of standing up and demanding respect for yourself isn’t limited to any particular era.