10 Most Inspirational Teen Movies Of All Time

“I am looking for a ‘dare to be great’ situation...”

Romance in teen movies almost always ends on a simple high spot: dancing at the senior prom, that first kiss. Then it’s the cue for that last one-liner; a pan away to starlight or fireworks; credits, and the film’s ubiquitous song kicks in for one final refrain.

That’s because teen romance is sweeping, epic, temporary stuff: hearts & flowers, knights & dragons, the bottomless pits of despair and the heights of heaven, but the flame that burns twice as bright burns for half as long. The story of teenage love is the story of every holiday romance, because the hormone-fuelled emotions of teenagers can’t be trusted… right?

Tell that to Lloyd Dobler. For years, writer/director Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything… was John Cusack’s calling card, even when he might have preferred it wasn’t, because it’s indelible: a story of teenage love, with all the grandiose, cod-operatic feelings that involves, but one that’s so convincing that it seems like it might actually be real.

The conceit of Say Anything… is that it starts at the point that most teen flicks like this end: at graduation. Perennial underachiever Lloyd determines to buck the story of his life to date, and ask out his high school crush Diane, the overachieving class valedictorian, right at the point that high school is officially kaput.

Against the odds, the nervy princess and the sketchy slacker fall hard for one another. There are obstacles to be overcome, of course - a disapproving father, terrible advice from friends and Diane’s imminent move to England to attend college - but the end of the film sees Lloyd on a plane to London with the love of his life, holding her hand and talking her through the nerves.

Lloyd may have been an underachiever in high school, but he’s finally found something he can excel at, and that’s being Diane’s other half. Say Anything… still holds the public imagination today, scoring highly on those ubiquitous ‘best of all time’ lists, because it portrays a teenage love affair that actually has a shot of making it.