2018 was a year for groundbreaking releases and new films that show more diversity in pop culture. It brought along new movies for teens all over to enjoy or, even poke fun at. Here is a top 5 teen movies of 2018 list.  

5. Sierra Burgess is a Loser:

This movie was released on August 30, 2018 on Netflix. It is about a girl, Sierra Burgess, who does not fit typical beauty standards and is made fun of by the popular girl, Veronica. When a football player from another school asks for Veronica’s number, she gives him Sierra’s instead because she already had a boyfriend and she thought this would embarrass Sierra. Jamey, the football player, starts texting Sierra not knowing it’s her and they start flirting which leads to Sierra developing a crush on him. Shockingly, Veronica and Sierra start becoming friends and Veronica starts helping Sierra with Jamey because he still believes he is talking to Veronica.

Courtesy of Netflix

They do some weird stuff like letting Sierra kiss Jamey even though he thinks it’s Veronica, which upset a lot of people. Sierra also, out of anger exposed Veronica’s secret after seeing Jamey kiss her, even though he thought it was Veronica who he was seeing. In the end, everything turns out fine for Sierra which again upset a lot of people because she fooled a boy for so long and treated Veronica badly even though they were friends at that point.  This is not my favorite movie because the whole catfishing fiasco but it did receive some attention from many teens, whether good or bad.

4. Kissing Booth:

This movie was released on May 11, 2018 also on Netflix. “The Kissing Booth” is about a high school girl, named Elle, who opens a kissing booth at her school carnival. Originally she got a group of popular girls to run the booth by lying about the popular guy’s (Noah) participation. The popular girls set Elle up so that she kisses a nerd but Noah steps in. This leads to her kissing her crush Noah who is also her best friend Lee’s brother. This is a problem because Elle and Lee made up rules for their friendship and one of those is that siblings are off limit. So, this results in Elle and Noah seeing each other secretly but eventually they have to come clean to Lee and he gets upset. Many other people also do not approve of their relationship and they take a small break but eventually Elle tells Noah she loves him and they spend as much time as possible before Noah leaves for Harvard.

courtesy of Netflix

It was a pretty popular movie among teen girls in specific but I don’t think many people really seemed to absolutely love it. I think it’s a good movie to watch if you’re not looking for anything amazing and just want to waste some time, or if you want to watch something with a couple of friends and have a laugh.

3. The Hate U Give:

This movie was released on October 5, 2018 in movie theaters across the United States. It is based on a book,written by Angie Thomas, that has the same name as the movie. This movie is definitely more serious than the past two and deals with heavy topics. “The Hate U Give” is about a young black 16-year-old girl named Starr who lives in a poor neighborhood, Garden Heights, but attends a private school full of predominantly white students. Starr attends a party where a gun goes off so she needed to leave and her best friend, Khalil, was driving her home when they got stopped by a police officer. The police officer told Khalil to get out of the car and he does but he goes to reach inside the car window to check up on Starr and he picks up a brush, which the police mistakes as a gun and the officer shot him three times which results in the death of Starr’s best friend. No one really knew that Starr had a connection to this aside from her family because she wanted to keep her home life separate from school which meant that her two best friends and her white boyfriend, Chris, were in the dark about everything. But she could not keep everything completely a secret especially when she gets involved in protesting against a gang who controls Garden Heights. This just leads to some tension between her friends and boyfriend but she stands up for what she believes and promises to keep the memory of her best friend, Khalil, alive.

Courtesy of Fox 2000

2. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before:

This movie was released on August 17, 2018 on Netflix and is based on a book, written by Jenny Han, that goes by the same title as the movie. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is about a teenage girl, Lara Jean, who wrote letters to her crushes but never sent them out. But unfortunately for her, they get out and this leads to many issues. First of all, one of the letters was addressed to her sister’s ex boyfriend and Lara Jean wants to avoid confrontation as much as possible which leads her to fake dating Peter Kavinsky, one of the boys she wrote a letter to. Peter Kavinsky is also getting something out of this which is winning his ex girlfriend back. But like any other cliche, Lara Jean and Peter do end up together in the end.

Courtesy of Netflix

I actually really enjoyed this movie and I know many other people did as well. It is a movie which many teens can enjoy but it also represents the growing diversity that is, and should be happening in pop culture. This movie features a lead Asian female actress which is great for Asian representation.

Courtesy of Netflix

1. Love, Simon:

“Love, Simon” was released in theaters all across the United States on March 16, 2018 and is based on the book, “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” written by Becky Albertalli. This movie is about a boy, Simon, who is still in the closet but he hears about another kid from his school who anonymously confessed to being gay and goes by the pseudonym “Blue”. They start emailing back and forth and Simon does have a person in mind that he thinks is Blue, named Bram, but he walks in on Bram kissing a girl at a halloween party. Also, unfortunately their emails are seen by a boy named Martin. Martin uses the emails to blackmail Simon into setting him up with his friend, Abby. Simon eventually comes out to Abby and she reacts positively which is a huge relief. Martin though, still has his eyes on Abby which led him to confess his love for her in front of the whole school and Abby admits she does not like him like that, which embarrassed Martin. Out of anger he exposes Simon anyways and the rest of the school finds out he’s gay. His friends are upset at him for keeping it a secret and trying to get Martin with Abby just to keep his secret and not tell them. Blue, of course, finds out that Simon is the one he was talking to and he tells Simon to stop talking to him. Simon does make up with his friends and they make up a plan to get Blue to meet him at the Carnival. Bram does reveal himself and he walks up to the ferris wheel where Simon is sitting and they kiss.

Courtesy of Celebrities Report

This is another movie that deals with new representations in pop culture but this time with a sexuality. This movie was definitely appreciated by those in the LGBT community and it allowed for them to see that representation that wasn’t seen as often in mainstream movies, especially one for teenagers.