Coming of Age Films Ranked
by eivissa_07 | created - 10 Jan 2013 | updated - 25 Dec 2022 | PublicComing of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual or spiritual event.
In film, a coming-of-age story is one that focuses on the psychological and moral growth or transition of a protagonist from youth to adulthood, or "coming of age".
Personal growth and change is an important characteristic of the genre, which relies on dialogue or internal monologue and emotional responses, rather than action. The story is often set in the past and is sometimes told in the form of a flashback. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers and the plot points of coming of age stories are usually emotional changes within the character(s) in question.
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1. Stand by Me (1986)
R | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell
Votes: 441,972 | Gross: $52.29M
2. Mud (2012)
PG-13 | 130 min | Adventure, Drama
Two young boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the vigilantes that are on his trail and to reunite him with his true love.
Director: Jeff Nichols | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Sam Shepard
Votes: 188,926 | Gross: $21.59M
3. The Tree of Life (2011)
PG-13 | 139 min | Drama, Fantasy
The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken
Votes: 184,189 | Gross: $13.30M
4. Boyhood (I) (2014)
R | 165 min | Drama
The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Elijah Smith
Votes: 367,272 | Gross: $25.38M
5. August Rush (2007)
PG | 114 min | Drama, Music
A musically gifted orphan, Evan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater.
Director: Kirsten Sheridan | Stars: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard
Votes: 111,139 | Gross: $31.66M
6. The Impossible (2012)
PG-13 | 114 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast
Votes: 244,258 | Gross: $19.02M
7. Hugo (2011)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
In 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 336,930 | Gross: $73.86M
8. Finding Neverland (2004)
PG | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The story of Sir J.M. Barrie's friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell
Votes: 212,082 | Gross: $51.68M
9. Flipped (I) (2010)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two eighth-graders start to have feelings for each other despite being total opposites.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Madeline Carroll, Callan McAuliffe, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards
Votes: 97,536 | Gross: $1.75M
10. Running on Empty (1988)
PG-13 | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Music
The eldest son of a fugitive family comes of age and wants to live his own life.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: River Phoenix, Christine Lahti, Judd Hirsch, Jonas Abry
Votes: 17,922 | Gross: $2.84M
11. E.T. (1982)
PG | 115 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace
Votes: 437,817 | Gross: $435.11M
12. The Lion King (1994)
G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Lion prince Simba and his father are targeted by his bitter uncle, who wants to ascend the throne himself.
Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg
Votes: 1,143,240 | Gross: $422.78M
13. Mulan (1998)
G | 87 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process.
Directors: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook | Stars: Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, Miguel Ferrer
Votes: 316,768 | Gross: $120.62M
14. Tarzan (1999)
G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A man raised by gorillas must decide where he really belongs when he discovers he is a human.
Directors: Chris Buck, Kevin Lima | Stars: Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Brian Blessed, Glenn Close
Votes: 247,438 | Gross: $171.09M
15. True Grit (2010)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin
Votes: 357,699 | Gross: $171.24M
16. It (I) (2017)
R | 135 min | Fantasy, Horror
In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town.
Director: Andy Muschietti | Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis
Votes: 606,794 | Gross: $327.48M
17. The Breakfast Club (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Votes: 436,886 | Gross: $45.88M
18. The Outsiders (1983)
PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama
In a small Oklahoma town in 1964, the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze
Votes: 97,650 | Gross: $25.60M
19. Risky Business (1983)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A Chicago teenager is looking for fun at home while his parents are away, but the situation quickly gets out of hand.
Director: Paul Brickman | Stars: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Richard Masur
Votes: 99,914 | Gross: $63.50M
20. Dead Poets Society (1989)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Votes: 546,788 | Gross: $95.86M
21. Billy Elliot (2000)
R | 110 min | Drama, Music
A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Jean Heywood, Jamie Draven
Votes: 142,907 | Gross: $22.00M
22. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of Southern California high school students are enjoying their most important subjects: sex, drugs and rock n' roll.
Director: Amy Heckerling | Stars: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus
Votes: 115,833 | Gross: $27.09M
23. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
PG | 142 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their third year of study, where they delve into the mystery surrounding an escaped prisoner who poses a dangerous threat to the young wizard.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Griffiths
Votes: 692,050 | Gross: $249.36M
24. The Karate Kid (1984)
PG | 126 min | Action, Drama, Family
A martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove
Votes: 244,666 | Gross: $90.82M
25. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama
Charlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.
Director: Stephen Chbosky | Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd
Votes: 548,366 | Gross: $17.74M
26. The Liverpool Goalie (2010)
90 min | Comedy
Jo (13) is a smart thinker with a vivid imagination, but is bothered by classmates, and is a rather hopeless soccer goalie. He does what he has to survive this difficult time in life.
Director: Arild Andresen | Stars: Ask von der Hagen, Susanne Boucher, Jostein Brox, Mattis Sverdrup Asker
Votes: 885
27. Super 8 (2011)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
During the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and investigate subsequent unexplained events in their small town.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Elle Fanning, AJ Michalka, Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney
Votes: 367,667 | Gross: $127.00M
28. Submarine (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: to lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Director: Richard Ayoade | Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor
Votes: 96,570 | Gross: $0.47M
29. Crossroads (1986)
R | 99 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A wannabe blues-guitar virtuoso finds an old blues player and hopes he can teach him a long-lost song by legendary musician Robert Johnson.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Joe Morton
Votes: 17,664 | Gross: $5.84M
30. This Boy's Life (1993)
R | 115 min | Biography, Drama
The story about the relationship between a rebellious 1950s teenager and his abusive stepfather, based on the memoirs of writer and literature Professor Tobias Wolff.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Barkin, Jonah Blechman
Votes: 58,380 | Gross: $4.10M
31. Explorers (1985)
PG | 109 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A boy obsessed with '50s sci-fi movies about aliens has a recurring dream about a blueprint of some kind, which he draws for his inventor friend. With the help of a third kid, they follow it and build themselves a spaceship. Now what?
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Bobby Fite, Bradley Gregg
Votes: 23,744 | Gross: $9.87M
32. Telling Lies in America (1997)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Music
A loner befriends a local celebrity, Billy Magic, but he soon begins to tell lies in order to maintain the friendship and the newfound status.
Director: Guy Ferland | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Brad Renfro, Maximilian Schell, Calista Flockhart
Votes: 2,427 | Gross: $0.25M
33. Ghost World (2001)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
Two eccentric best friends graduate high school and respond to a man's romance-seeking newspaper ad as a gag, only to find their lives becoming increasingly complicated.
Director: Terry Zwigoff | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro
Votes: 126,885 | Gross: $6.22M
34. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
PG-13 | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow
Votes: 105,189 | Gross: $31.85M
35. The Prince of Egypt (1998)
PG | 99 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Egyptian Prince Moses learns of his identity as a Hebrew and his destiny to become the chosen deliverer of his people.
Directors: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, Simon Wells | Stars: Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock
Votes: 146,520 | Gross: $101.22M
36. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
PG | 98 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.
Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders | Stars: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson
Votes: 801,204 | Gross: $217.58M
37. Lord of the Flies (1963)
Not Rated | 92 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Schoolboys marooned on a Pacific island create their own savage civilization.
Director: Peter Brook | Stars: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin
Votes: 20,424
38. The Cure (1995)
PG-13 | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.
Director: Peter Horton | Stars: Joseph Mazzello, Brad Renfro, Aeryk Egan, Delphine French
Votes: 10,683 | Gross: $2.57M
39. The Man Without a Face (1993)
PG-13 | 115 min | Drama
Chuck wants to leave home but can't make the grade for boarding school. Then he finds out the disfigured recluse living nearby is an ex-teacher.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Nick Stahl, Margaret Whitton, Fay Masterson
Votes: 31,011 | Gross: $24.76M
40. The Client (1994)
PG-13 | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A young boy who witnessed the suicide of a mafia lawyer hires an attorney to protect him when the District Attorney tries to use him to take down a mob family.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Renfro, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 73,733 | Gross: $92.12M
41. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 128,135
42. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
PG-13 | 94 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Two 12-year-olds, who live on an island, fall in love with each other and elope into the wilderness. While people set out on a search mission, a violent storm approaching them catches their attention.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray
Votes: 366,861 | Gross: $45.51M
43. The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)
R | 97 min | Drama
Seven-year-old Jeremiah is pulled from his foster home and thrown into a troubled life on the road with his teenage mother, Sarah.
Director: Asia Argento | Stars: Asia Argento, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Jimmy Bennett
Votes: 7,139 | Gross: $0.03M
44. Toast (2010 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain.
Director: S.J. Clarkson | Stars: Oscar Kennedy, Victoria Hamilton, Colin Prockter, Ken Stott
Votes: 10,463
45. Kisses (2008)
Not Rated | 72 min | Drama
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home at Christmas and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Director: Lance Daly | Stars: Kelly O'Neill, Shane Curry, Paul Roe, Roy Dempsey
Votes: 1,962 | Gross: $0.08M
46. Malena (2000)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, War
Amidst the war climate, a teenage boy discovering himself becomes love-stricken by Malèna, a sensual woman living in a small, narrow-minded Italian town.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
Votes: 112,095 | Gross: $3.45M
47. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy
A popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones
Votes: 386,758 | Gross: $70.14M
48. The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.
Director: Mark Waters | Stars: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, David Strathairn, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 102,894 | Gross: $71.20M
49. Son of Rambow (2007)
PG-13 | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
During a long English summer in the early 1980s, two schoolboys from differing backgrounds set out to make a film inspired by First Blood (1982).
Director: Garth Jennings | Stars: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Hynes, Anna Wing
Votes: 32,976 | Gross: $1.78M
50. Lord of the Flies (1990)
R | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Stranded on an island, a group of schoolboys degenerate into savagery.
Director: Harry Hook | Stars: Balthazar Getty, Chris Furrh, Danuel Pipoly, James Badge Dale
Votes: 33,639 | Gross: $13.99M
51. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
R | 93 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
Three scouts, on the eve of their last camp-out, discover the true meaning of friendship when they attempt to save their town from a zombie outbreak.
Director: Christopher Landon | Stars: Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sarah Dumont
Votes: 55,145 | Gross: $3.64M
52. The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
High-school life gets even more unbearable for Nadine when her best friend, Krista, starts dating her older brother.
Director: Kelly Fremon Craig | Stars: Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Lu Richardson, Blake Jenner, Kyra Sedgwick
Votes: 140,289 | Gross: $14.43M
53. You Are Not Alone (1978)
Unrated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
Two precocious boys explore their sexuality at boarding school.
Directors: Ernst Johansen, Lasse Nielsen | Stars: Anders Agensø, Peter Bjerg, Ove Sprogøe, Elin Reimer
Votes: 4,201
54. The Kings of Summer (2013)
R | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Three teenage friends, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land.
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts | Stars: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman
Votes: 84,411 | Gross: $1.29M
55. Hide Your Smiling Faces (2013)
Not Rated | 81 min | Drama
After a neighborhood tragedy, two adolescent brothers confront changing relationships, the mystery of nature, and their own mortality.
Director: Daniel Patrick Carbone | Stars: Ryan Jones, Nathan Varnson, Colm O'Leary, Thomas Cruz
Votes: 1,836
56. Tender Cousins (1980)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
With Adolf Hitler threatening Europe, against the backdrop of the deceptively peaceful summer of 1939, 14-year-old Julien experiences the intoxicating effects of first love, smitten with his beautiful 16-year-old cousin Julia.
Director: David Hamilton | Stars: Thierry Tevini, Anja Schüte, Valérie Dumas, Évelyne Dandry
Votes: 2,168
57. Swinki (2009)
94 min | Drama
14-year-old Tomek falls in love with Marta. Being poor he seeks ways of earning money so as to please her. He approaches a man who was seeking people for work. Not realizing the man is a pimp, Tomek has no idea of what awaits him.
Director: Robert Glinski | Stars: Filip Garbacz, Bogdan Koca, Dorota Wierzbicka-Matarrelli, Piotr Jagielski
Votes: 630
58. Big Game (2014)
PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A young teenager camping in the woods helps rescue the President of the United States when Air Force One is shot down near his campsite.
Director: Jalmari Helander | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson, Victor Garber
Votes: 35,523 | Gross: $0.02M
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