Teen Movies From The ’90s And ’00s That Have Aged Terribly

If you grew up in the late ’90s/early ’00s, then you experienced the golden era of teen movies.

From classics like Clueless, Mean Girls, and She’s All That to cult faves like Jawbreaker, Jennifer’s Body, and Election, I can’t think of a time when more movies were dedicated to the messy lives of teens in high school.

But they’re not all winners. While some of these movies have aged like a fine wine, others are now painful to watch.

We’ve rounded up some teen movies from the ’90s and ’00s that have aged terribly:

1. American Pie

If any teen movie was going to top this list, it has to be American Pie. This movie franchise was a huge deal in the late-90s and continued its reign into the 2010s, as the original spawned three sequels and four spin-offs. But if we cast our minds back to the movie that started it all: this film was beyond cooked.

Where to begin? From the Stifler’s mum storylines glorifying underage sex to the boys’ whole virginity pact that just gave incel vibes, this film was essentially a guide to how to be the worst person in the world.

But the most egregious part has to be foreign exchange student Nadia’s (Shannon Elizabeth) storyline which was a straight-up sex crime. The boys in school recorded Nadia undressing without her consent and the footage was streamed online.

If this wasn’t disgusting enough, it was Nadia who faced consequences: she was not just pulled out of school, she was sent back to Eastern Europe. The entire scene is played out like Jim (Jason Biggs ) was the victim, as he had trouble performing sexually which was aired to all the other boys — all the while, a teenage girl’s life was destroyed.

Revolting.

2. Whatever It Takes

A movie about two teen boys who team up to trick two teen girls into dating them through lying and manipulation? Keep it!

While the movie portrays James Franco’s Chris as the main villain, I’d say that Shane West’s Brian is even worse for leveraging his best friend in order to date the hottest girl in school… who is clearly an awful person. Big ick!

3. Save The Last Dance 

To be fully transparent: this movie shaped my teen years completely. As a huge dance movie fan, you don’t get much better than Save The Last Dance: the club scenes, the fashion, the soundtrack — it’s such a throwback! However, there are some storylines that would hopefully never be passable in the current social climate.

The worst culprit is Sara (Julia Stiles) who is continuously acting colourblind while ignoring her own privilege. And while Sara is portrayed as the film’s hero, the other Black women are painted as the villains. In one instance, Chenille (Kerry Washington) comes across as unreasonable for sympathising with Nikki for calling out Kat for her white privilege. But, at least Sara got into Juilliard! That’s all that matters, right?

4. Bring It On

This movie is almost perfect, but there’s one scene that doesn’t sit right with me: during one of the cheer routines, male cheerleader Jan sexually assaults another cheerleader Courtney, when he sticks his hand inside her cheer outfit. In response, Courtney slaps him and runs off. The whole scene is played out like teen banter when it was straight-up assault.

Also, the bonkers dance instructor Sparky Polastri using an ableist slur to describe cheerleaders would thankfully NEVER fly today.

5. Cruel Intentions

This movie is problematic from start to finish, but tbh, it’s still one of the greatest films of the ’90s. However, the storylines that have aged particularly badly are the whole step-siblings in a sexual pact thing, Sebastian’s revenge porn saga, the exploitation and sexual assault of Cecile, and the racist treatment of Ronald by, well, everyone.

6. Never Been Kissed

Just imagine for a second that a movie was released today that saw an adult woman return to high school where she begins dating a teen boy. Sure, they didn’t go any further than dating, but it’s still completely creepy all the same.

We would call the police, and rightfully so!

7. 40 Days 40 Nights

This 2002 movie might have been deleted from all of our collective memories, but it was peak Joshua Hartnett in his hottest era. But there’s one scene that is nothing short of horrifying under a contemporary lens, where Josh’s character Matt is raped by his ex-girlfriend Nicole while under a vow of celibacy.

The scene led to Matt’s current girlfriend Erica dumping him, his friends making fun of him, while Nicole faced no consequences.

8. The Girl Next Door

From American Pie to The Girl Next Door, these kinds of movies epitomised the ’90s bro genre which was typically rife with toxic masculinity and rape culture. In the case of The Girl Next Door, a group of nerds sexually objectify Elisha Cuthbert in the titular girl next door character, Danielle.

There’s also an extra ick factor with the boys slut-shaming Danielle after finding out she works in the porn industry.

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Let’s be thankful that some of these harmful and abhorrent storylines could never exist today in teen movies.