Every adult can appreciate the significance of growing up and learning things along the way. Getting older is inevitable, but it is important to take it all in so you can learn from your mistakes and grow as a person. Throughout the years, there have been several films spanning across genres that have focused on growing up and coming of age. In fact, the great director John Hughes built a career showcasing the struggles and antics of young adults. Films like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off showed us what it means to be a young adult in the 1980s. Although times have changed since then, the transition from child to adult is an extremely significant process that can be very enlightening.

Coming-of-age films can create several emotions and nostalgia. They remind you of the romance, confusion, and many adventures that come with your youth. At the same time, we are reminded of the lessons and knowledge that you gain through maturing into an adult. With that said, being a teenager can be a very confusing experience. Bo Burnham showed us through Eighth Grade the humiliation and drama that come with growing up in the modern age.

Technology controls many teenagers' lives, and so much is constantly being posted online on a daily basis. Navigating adulthood is a daunting experience, but it is completely unavoidable. In the past decade, we have gotten several great coming-of-age films that have shown us what it means to grow up in the modern world. Let's look at the best coming-of-age films from the 2010s ranked.

Update November 8, 2023: Coming-of-age movies are a timelessly classic genre, and it is now hard to believe that some of these films would be approaching adolescence. With that in mind, this article has been updated with more films and also where you can stream each film.

10 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

This film is a refreshing take on growing up and serves as a fantastic tribute to the importance of filmmaking. The dramedy follows Greg (Thomas Mann) and Earl (RJ Cyler) who spend their time making creative parodies of classic films. Their lives are disrupted when they learn that an old friend, Rachel (Olivia Cooke), has been diagnosed with cancer, and together the trio set out on a soul-altering journey in hopes of lifting the teenager's spirits during her unfathomable health battle.

What Makes It Great

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl focuses on the harsh realities of life and the importance of friendship and creativity to overcome obstacles and tragedy. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, where director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon won both the prestigious Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for U.S. Drama. Critics were blown away by its poignant premise, endearing performances, and sharp screenplay, all of which helped establish it as an unforgettable teen-based triumph.

Rent/Buy on Prime Video

9 The Way, Way Back (2013)

The Way, Way Back focuses on several topics relating to young adults, including love, friendship, and divorce. The story follows Duncan (Liam James) as he is dragged to a beach house with his mom's new boyfriend. While there, he takes a job at a water park, gaining new and unexpected friends along the way.

What Make it Great

The story focuses on the anxiety and awkwardness that comes with being a teenager but the importance of taking risks and putting yourself out there. The film has a great blend of comedy and drama and features several great performances from Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, and more and it was proved to be a success at the box office, earning over $26 million at its modest $5 million budget.

Rent/Buy on Prime Video

8 Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)

Blue Is The Warmest Color is a fantastic love story that chronicles the life of Adele (Adèle Exarchopoulos) as she falls for Emma (Léa Seydoux). The film is an honest depiction of love while focusing on the struggle of maintaining it. We watch as Adele matures into a young woman while searching for love, adventure, and happiness.

What Makes It Great

The film shows you that sometimes, in life, there are no clear answers, and everybody just has to do the best they can. The touching romantic drama features fantastic performances from both of the main actors, and we are given one of the greatest love stories of all time in the acclaimed Abdellatif Kechiche triumph. It unanimously won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and countless critics all agreed that Blue Is The Warmest Color was undeniably one of the greatest releases of that year and a genuine and powerful coming-of-age staple.

Stream on AMC+

7 Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Call Me By Your Name is a heartbreaking and endearing love story that features beautiful landscapes of the Italian countryside. Elio (Timothee Chalamet) navigates life and growing up while forming a romantic relationship with Oliver (Armie Hammer), with the spellbinding picture depicting their life-altering connection in the summer of 1983 and the profound effects it has on both young men.

What Makes It Great

The sweeping romantic drama teaches a lot about the significance of finding love, especially at a young age, even when you know that it will inevitably come to an end. It delves into the importance of taking in every moment and appreciating the beauty of life, and features remarkable performances by lead stars Chalamet and Hammer. Director Luca Guadagnino wanted to solely focus on the romantic moment between Elio and Oliver and depict what falling in love for the first time truly felt like, expressing that it was about "being who you want to be and finding yourself into the gaze of the other in his or her otherness."

Stream on Netflix

6 Booksmart (2019)

Olivia Wilde's directorial debut was a great portrait of high school life in the modern age. Booksmart follows longtime best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) as they approach their high school graduation and become determined to finally break some rules and get into some trouble. They navigate through several high school cliques as they experiment with partying, drugs, and sex.

What Makes It Great

It is a comedic look at the Gen-Z youth while keeping friendship at its core. The bond between the main characters is strong and endearing, and we are given a hilarious coming-of-age film about the modern day; Variety called the flick "the best high school buddy comedy since Superbad". Booksmart garnered numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe nod, and Wilde also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. While not a box office smash hit, the movie has been extremely influential from the cast and director going on to high-profile projects to the fact that traces of Booksmart can be felt in movies today including the recently released, Bottoms.

Stream on Peacock

5 The Edge Of Seventeen (2016)

Hailee Steinfeld gives a fantastic performance in The Edge of Seventeen as Nadine, a teenager desperately trying to find herself while in the midst of high school. Woody Harrelson appears as her weary yet thoughtful teacher Mr. Bruner, who serves as a life preserve for the struggling young woman as she attempts to face long unresolved feelings of losing her father at thirteen and her constantly changing dynamics with her family and friends.

What Make It Great

The story focuses on many important topics, including friendship, family, and loss. Nadine shows us how difficult it is to be a high school student who can't fit in. She lives in the shadow of her brother (Blake Jenner), who unfortunately begins to date Nadine's best friend (Haley Lu Richardson). In the end, Nadine learns the importance of leaving her comfort zone and appreciating the things that she has already, giving us a very satisfying coming-of-age film. Director Kelly Fremon Craig released another great coming-of-age film in the 2020s, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, which acts as a great companion piece to The Edge of Seventeen.

Stream on Fubo

4 Eighth Grade (2018)

Eighth Grade shows us how technology currently controls the lives of young adults. It centers on middle school student Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) as she experiences her final week at Miles Grove Middle School before graduating and heading to high school, chronicling her efforts to cope with her own insecurities and stifling social anxiety as she desperately attempts to be accepted by her peers.

What Makes It Great

Bo Burnham's film is an honest portrait of the struggles of growing up in the modern age. Elsie Fisher gives a tour de force performance as an eighth-grade student navigating life while trying to overcome her social anxiety. At the same time, Josh Hamilton gives a fantastic and underrated performance as a caring father who knows when to keep his distance. Eighth Grade is not just a great directorial debut but the way it balances the awkwardness and horror of being an adolescent makes it the scariest horror movie that is not in fact, a horror movie.

Stream on Max

3 Lady Bird (2017)

Greta Gerwig created a fantastic film featuring a very endearing and honest character known as Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan). High school senior Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson is constantly trying to find herself while exploring relationships, friendships, and family, and her complicated relationship with her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf) serves as a major focal point in Gerwig's phenomenal solo directorial debut.

What Makes It Great

The heart of the film is seen through the loving relationship between Lady Bird and her mother, brilliantly played by Laurie Metcalf. Gerwig created Lady Bird as a love letter to her hometown of Sacramento while making a tender and entertaining coming-of-age film. The esteemed director took the cast and crew on a tour of where she grew up and even gave them her old journals, photos, and high school yearbooks to better prepare them for filming the personal picture. Lady Bird went on to win two Golden Globe Awards and was selected as one of the best releases of the year by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute.

Stream on Netflix & Paramount+

2 Moonlight (2016)

The Academy Award for Best Picture in 2017, Moonlight is a coming-of-age drama that follows three stages of a young boy named Chrion's life. His childhood (played by Alex R. Hibert), his teenage years (Aston Sanders), and his adult years (Trevante Rhodes). The film tackles both his sexual identity, being a young gay Black man while also addressing the abuse he faced growing up.

Why It's Great

Directed by Barry Jenkins, Moonlight was a powerful emotional drama that showed a rich, nuanced view of both sexuality and masculinity. The film is often cited as one of the best films of the 2010s, and it was a major achievement by everyone invovled. While it is notable for many things, from its Oscar upset to being the first LGBTQ-themed mass-market film with an all-black cast, what has stuck with audiences is how relatable the jounrey of self-discovery is.

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1 Boyhood (2014)

Richard Linklater's Boyhood was a monumental achievement in filmmaking. Linklater filmed Boyhood over the course of twelve years, telling the story of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from childhood to college as he grows up in a small Texas town with his divorced parents, Mason Sr. and Olivia (Ethan Hawke & Patricia Arquette). Linklater shot the film in his home city of Houston and filmed the picture annually, chronicling Mason's life from the age of six to his graduation at eighteen.

What Makes It Great

The film broke cinematic boundaries while portraying an honest depiction of growing up. Through the eyes of young boy, the audience sees major life-altering events happen, including relationships, family values, and divorce. Watching the actors age in real-time is a unique cinematic experience and the movie perfectly taps into the sensation of having time fly by. The film features several excellent performances from Hawke, Arquette, and of course, Coltrane, and both audiences and critics were blown away by the fascinating drama's unique premise and background. Arquette won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Linklater won the Golden Globe for Best Director for his captivating storytelling and moving screenplay.

Stream on Showtime