Meaningful Films for Teens
by alexafung13 | created - 28 May 2016 | updated - 01 Jul 2020 | PublicFilms that have a great story but also something to think about :)
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1. About Time (I) (2013)
R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson
Votes: 385,620 | Gross: $15.32M
2. Me Before You (2016)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Romance
A girl in a small town forms an unlikely bond with a recently-paralyzed man she's taking care of.
Director: Thea Sharrock | Stars: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance
Votes: 286,940 | Gross: $56.25M
3. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
PG | 129 min | Drama, Romance
Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland
Votes: 330,456 | Gross: $38.41M
4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien
Votes: 246,240 | Gross: $9.03M
5. My Sister's Keeper (2009)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama, Family
Anna Fitzgerald looks to earn medical emancipation from her parents who until now have relied on their youngest child to help their leukemia-stricken daughter Kate remain alive.
Director: Nick Cassavetes | Stars: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin, Walter Raney
Votes: 98,309 | Gross: $49.20M
6. The Intern (I) (2015)
PG-13 | 121 min | Comedy, Drama
Seventy-year-old widower Ben Whittaker has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin.
Director: Nancy Meyers | Stars: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm
Votes: 273,967 | Gross: $75.76M
7. La La Land (2016)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons
Votes: 670,765 | Gross: $151.10M
8. The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
PG | 122 min | Comedy, Drama
The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon
Votes: 87,573 | Gross: $54.24M
9. Chef (2014)
R | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A head chef quits his restaurant job and buys a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family.
Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman
Votes: 231,612 | Gross: $31.42M
10. Love Actually (2003)
R | 135 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney
Votes: 531,358 | Gross: $59.70M
11. Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
PG | 101 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A video game villain wants to be a hero and sets out to fulfill his dream, but his quest brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives.
Director: Rich Moore | Stars: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman
Votes: 458,196 | Gross: $189.42M
12. As Good as It Gets (1997)
PG-13 | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Votes: 318,287 | Gross: $148.48M
13. A Street Cat Named Bob (2016)
Not Rated | 103 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The true feel-good story of how James Bowen, a busker and recovering drug addict, has his life transformed when he meets a stray ginger cat. Based on the international best selling book.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Luke Treadaway, Bob the Cat, Ruta Gedmintas, Joanne Froggatt
Votes: 33,658 | Gross: $0.04M
14. Eight Below (2006)
PG | 120 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Brutal cold forces two Antarctic explorers to leave their team of sled dogs behind as they fend for their survival.
Director: Frank Marshall | Stars: Paul Walker, Jason Biggs, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood
Votes: 68,351 | Gross: $81.61M
15. Passengers (I) (2016)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
A malfunction in a sleeping pod on a spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet wakes one passenger 90 years early.
Director: Morten Tyldum | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne
Votes: 447,074 | Gross: $100.01M
16. Eddie the Eagle (2015)
PG-13 | 106 min | Adventure, Biography, Comedy
The story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Director: Dexter Fletcher | Stars: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello, Jo Hartley
Votes: 100,167 | Gross: $15.79M
17. Gracie (2007)
PG-13 | 95 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Grace, a football enthusiast, fights an uphill battle to play in the boys' varsity team of her high school and gain support for women's soccer while dealing with the death of her brother.
Director: Davis Guggenheim | Stars: Carly Schroeder, Andrew Shue, Elisabeth Shue, Jesse Lee Soffer
Votes: 4,328 | Gross: $2.96M
18. Gifted (2017)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama
Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, is drawn into a custody battle with his mother.
Director: Marc Webb | Stars: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Octavia Spencer
Votes: 130,224 | Gross: $24.80M
19. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
PG-13 | 166 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with consequences.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond
Votes: 695,410 | Gross: $127.51M
20. Dangal (2016)
Not Rated | 161 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his two wrestler daughters struggle towards glory at the Commonwealth Games in the face of societal oppression.
Director: Nitesh Tiwari | Stars: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra
Votes: 210,559 | Gross: $12.39M
21. Wonder (I) (2017)
PG | 113 min | Drama, Family
Based on the New York Times bestseller, this movie tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters the fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.
Director: Stephen Chbosky | Stars: Jacob Tremblay, Owen Wilson, Izabela Vidovic, Julia Roberts
Votes: 178,280 | Gross: $132.42M
22. Julie & Julia (2009)
PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.
Director: Nora Ephron | Stars: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Chris Messina, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 128,823 | Gross: $94.13M
23. Sold (I) (2014)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama
A girl risks everything for freedom after being trafficked from her mountain village in Nepal to a brothel in India.
Director: Jeffrey D. Brown | Stars: Gillian Anderson, David Arquette, Priyanka Bose, Tillotama Shome
Votes: 1,998
24. Love, Simon (2018)
PG-13 | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.
Director: Greg Berlanti | Stars: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford
Votes: 125,822 | Gross: $40.83M
25. Music and Lyrics (2007)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
A washed up singer is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he's never written a decent lyric in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman with a flair for words.
Director: Marc Lawrence | Stars: Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Scott Porter, Nick Bacon
Votes: 107,168 | Gross: $50.57M
26. Baywatch (2017)
R | 116 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon butts heads with a brash new recruit, as they uncover a criminal plot that threatens the future of the bay.
Director: Seth Gordon | Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Votes: 202,044 | Gross: $58.06M
27. Miss Congeniality (2000)
PG-13 | 109 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
An F.B.I. Agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to prevent a group from bombing the event.
Director: Donald Petrie | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Candice Bergen
Votes: 230,130 | Gross: $106.81M
28. The Greatest Showman (2017)
PG | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Musical
Celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
Director: Michael Gracey | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya
Votes: 311,244 | Gross: $174.34M
29. The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Hazel and Gus are teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. They both share the same acerbic wit and a love of books, especially "An Imperial Affliction", so they embark on a journey to visit an author in Amsterdam.
Director: Josh Boone | Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern
Votes: 400,986 | Gross: $124.87M
30. 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: 140,094 | Gross: $14.43M
31. A Dog's Purpose (2017)
PG | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A dog discovers the meaning of its own existence through the lives of the humans it teaches to laugh and love. Reincarnated as multiple canines over the course of five decades, the lovable pooch develops an unbreakable bond with Ethan.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid, Peggy Lipton, Bryce Gheisar
Votes: 79,021 | Gross: $64.51M
32. Marley & Me (2008)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Family
A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.
Director: David Frankel | Stars: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Kathleen Turner
Votes: 167,756 | Gross: $143.15M
33. Coco (I) (2017)
PG | 105 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.
Directors: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina | Stars: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach
Votes: 589,835 | Gross: $209.73M
34. Maleficent (2014)
PG | 97 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A vengeful fairy is driven to curse an infant princess, only to discover that the child could be the one person who can restore peace to their troubled land.
Director: Robert Stromberg | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Lesley Manville
Votes: 400,081 | Gross: $241.41M
35. Peter Rabbit (2018)
PG | 95 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A rabbit sneaks into a garden to steal food, and they get a new challenge with a new owner.
Director: Will Gluck | Stars: James Corden, Fayssal Bazzi, Domhnall Gleeson, Sia
Votes: 48,074 | Gross: $115.25M
36. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After finding love, Bridget Jones questions if she really has everything she'd ever dreamed of having.
Director: Beeban Kidron | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones
Votes: 122,415 | Gross: $40.23M
37. Instant Family (2018)
PG-13 | 118 min | Comedy, Drama
A couple find themselves in over their heads when they foster three children.
Director: Sean Anders | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabela Merced, Gustavo Escobar
Votes: 119,517 | Gross: $67.36M
38. The Kite Runner (2007)
PG-13 | 128 min | Drama
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Khalid Abdalla, Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, Atossa Leoni, Shaun Toub
Votes: 82,537 | Gross: $15.80M
39. Hindi Medium (2017)
Not Rated | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
A couple from Chandni Chowk aspire to give their daughter the best education and thus be a part of and accepted by the elite of Delhi.
Director: Saket Chaudhary | Stars: Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Dishita Sehgal, Deepak Dobriyal
Votes: 31,982
40. Eighth Grade (2018)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama
An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.
Director: Bo Burnham | Stars: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan
Votes: 82,434 | Gross: $13.54M
41. The Holiday (2006)
PG-13 | 136 min | Comedy, Romance
Two women troubled with guy-problems swap homes in each other's countries, where they each meet a local guy and fall in love.
Director: Nancy Meyers | Stars: Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black
Votes: 322,830 | Gross: $63.22M
42. Shall We Dance? (1996)
PG | 136 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.
Director: Masayuki Suô | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eri Watanabe
Votes: 11,725 | Gross: $9.68M
43. Last Christmas (2019)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Kate is a young woman subscribed to bad decisions. Working as an elf in a year-round Christmas store is not good for the wannabe singer. However, she meets Tom there. Her life takes a new turn--that seems too good to be true.
Director: Paul Feig | Stars: Madison Ingoldsby, Emma Thompson, Boris Isakovic, Lucy Miller
Votes: 90,458 | Gross: $35.15M
44. Ladies in Black (2018)
PG | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The lives of a group of department store employees in 1959 Sydney.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Julia Ormond, Angourie Rice, Rachael Taylor, Alison McGirr
Votes: 8,087
45. Moana (I) (2016)
PG | 107 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
In ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the demigod Maui reaches Moana's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out Maui to set things right.
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker, Don Hall, Chris Williams | Stars: Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison
Votes: 377,805 | Gross: $248.76M
46. The Blind Side (2009)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Jae Head
Votes: 360,335 | Gross: $255.96M
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