Starting or returning to university is daunting, so why not make this time less stressful by sitting down and bonding over some crowd-pleasing movies with your flatmates? Here are just a few to get you started:

Ladybird (2017)

Set in 2002, the film follows Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) through her final year at high school which includes her first relationship, her college application process and her financially struggling families attempt to stay afloat. Ladybird is a story of friendship, familial love and independence and is a definite must see.

The Breakfast Club (1985)

An 80s classic that looks at five high school stereotypes (the popular girl, the nerd, the weird one, the jock and the rebel) that form a valuable and meaningful friendship that would not normally be able to flourish due to the nature of high school politics.

Superbad (2007)

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the film follows two high school seniors (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera) who want to attend parties and lose their virginity before leaving for college. A funny and endearing story that focuses on the importance of friendship over bragging rights.

Heathers (1988)

Heathers follows Veronica (Winona Ryder) who is sick of the tyrannical school bully, Heather (Shannen Doherty), and decides to sabotage her after meeting J.D. (Christian Slater), a rebellious new student. Things quickly get out of control when J.D. plans to kill the entire school. The film is a dark satirical exploration of teen angst and high school politics that has remained a cult classic 30 years on.

Mean Girls (2004)

A film that most people have seen at least twice that never seems to get old. Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is persuaded by her friend Janis (Lizzy Caplan) to befriend Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and become a member of the most exclusive clique in the school, ‘The Plastics’. A tale of friendships, relationships and finding your footing in a new environment.

Easy A (2010)

Clean cut high school student Olive (Emma Stone) finds herself the talk of the school after a little white lie she tells about losing her virginity gets out. Loosely based on the novel ‘The Scarlet Letter’, Olive embraces her falsely assigned a promiscuous title and agrees to allow certain boys from the school to lie about having sex with her in exchange for money/gift cards/coupons. Easy A is easily one of the best recent rom-com coming of age movies.

There are so many coming of age films that it is almost impossible to whittle them down to just a few. Some that weren’t mentioned in the list but are definite must-sees are: Pretty in Pink, Donnie Darko, Stand By Me, Submarine, Sixteen Candles, American Pie, Call Me By Your Name and Dazed and Confused.

Charlotte Loughlin

Image Courtesy of A24