Teen movies are a staple of entertainment as big-budget blockbusters or streaming films. They tell coming-of-age stories about graduation, attending college, falling in love for the first time, and standing up to parents and bullies. There are plenty of fun and exciting things that teen movies do and important stories they tell that are relatable to any teen experiencing those things for the first time or adults who remember what it is like to experience embarrassing first crushes or awkward school dances. But while there may be many great things about teen movies, there are also plenty of times when the story or characters have only resulted in a poorly put-together film.

While the movie may be trying to tell an important story, the execution may have another meaning. While there may not be a way to avoid popular tropes, one of the biggest pitfalls is trying to include every trope into a film without parodying it to acknowledge the minds behind the movie know it has been done before. Other times, teen films miss the mark on understanding the generation they tell a story about. In other aspects, just creating reboots of past successful teen films is not the best way to create a great teen movie.

Related: The Most Overused Teen Show and Movie Tropes

10 Turning its Protagonist Into the Villain

Sierra Burgess is a Loser
Netflix

The protagonist does not need to be the unluckiest person alive, but the film needs to create enough empathy for the audience to root for them, even if they massively mess up. One of the reasons Sierra Burgess is a Loser could not keep its audience on the protagonist's side is that plenty of her actions have her catfishing Jamey, with the film even trying to play a nonconsensual kiss as a romantic moment.

Sierra's decision to humiliate Veronica in front of the entire school only continues to put Sierra in a bad light. It is supposed to be a movie about inner beauty. But, making her the villain alienates the audience from her because of her personality and actions.

9 Having a Low Stakes Plot

Tall Girl Jack and Jodi
Netflix

In many aspects, teen movies have a relatively low-stakes plot. Choosing a Prom date will not inevitably change the course of history, no matter how important it feels at the moment. Graduating from high school is more expected than feeling like a stake for someone, unless the character has difficulties in school. Tall Girl focused on Jodi's insecurity toward her height, but a significant part of the movie is also about the love triangle she finds herself in between Stig and Jack. Jodi accepting herself for being tall is part of the heart of the movie. But, of course, it can not be without concluding the film with a romantic conclusion as well.

8 Romanticizing Toxic Relationships

Edward and Bella in Twilight
Summit Entertainment

There is nothing healthy about Twilight's central pairing. Edward and Bella have various issues, from him being over one hundred years old and a vampire, to how he sneaks into Bella's bedroom uninvited to watch her sleep. At the same time, Bella nearly kills herself many times to see Edward's ghost after he breaks up with her and leaves. The Twilight movies could have shown a negative side to this, but instead, it forges ahead that these actions are perfectly fine, even though they are the furthest thing from it. If the toxicity between Edward and Bella was not enough, the series takes it further by creating the drastically inappropriate romance between Jacob and newborn Renesmee.

RELATED: The Biggest Teen Movie Heartthrobs of the 2000s, Ranked

7 When a Reboot Doesn't Help the Story

He's All That Cameron and Padgett
Netflix

For all the issues it may have had as a '90s classic, She's All That still had plenty of elements to it that made it so memorable. Netflix's remake, He's All That, takes the story's bare bones and adds nothing that could have transformed the story into something more. While it swaps the story of the "ugly duckling" plot, there is nothing new or exciting to the story, and it does not do the work to feel as if it wants to be anything other than a modernized reboot of the same tale.

6 Relying on Nostalgia

Senior Year
Netflix

Since Senior Year is meant to tell the story of Stephanie picking up her life where she left off 20 years after falling into a coma, it makes sense that the film plays homage to some nostalgic elements. However, making the entire movie surround nostalgia when most of the film takes place in the present takes away from the identity of what the movie could be. While nostalgia is fun in small doses, it should not be the main feature of the movie.

5 Dated Dialogue

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Paramount Pictures

One of the most frustrating things in teen films is when they try to match the slang used by teenagers at that time. They want to cater to the audience at the time of release, but slang words tend to die off after a while, and using them can date the movie. Mean Girls avoided falling deeper into this trap. While the movie is a satire, it avoids being too dated in its dialogue's choice of slang words by having Gretchen repeat her own made-up phrase in the hopes it catches on, even though it never does.

4 Too Many Sequels

elordi-king-kissing-booth-2018-komixx
Netflix

Sometimes one is enough. The Kissing Booth focuses on Elle's struggle when she falls for her best friend's older brother. The friendship between Elle and Lee lies at the heart of the movie, with the romance between Elle and Noah playing an integral role in the story. Elle and Noah's happy ending after the first film would have been an excellent place to leave, with Elle in good places with Lee and Noah. Instead, The Kissing Booth spans on for two more movies, where one of the biggest failures is showing how Elle and Noah's romance grows more toxic and problematic in each installment.

Related: Disney+ Prom Pact: Will It Uphold the Current Revival of Rom-Coms

3 Over-Using Tropes

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Netflix

Many teen movies face themselves telling the same story or using well-known tropes to rely on the story moving forward. To All The Boys I've Loved Before begins with a fake dating plot between Lara Jean and Peter. Believing fake dating would make Peter's ex-girlfriend Gen jealous; the two embark on a journey with an ending obvious to everyone but them.

To All The Boys I've Loved Before also features other tropes, such as Lara Jean and Peter facing difficulties in their relationship just as another love interest enters the picture and questions if they can make long-distance work after planning a future together.

2 Lack Of Diversity & Inclusion

Rowan Blanchard and Auli'i Cravalho in Crush
Hulu

There are significantly fewer mainstream teen movies featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and healthy relationships than those that show a boy and girl falling in love. Sometimes, there will be a side relationship that suggests inclusion, but it never receives the same substance. Love, Simon, and Hulu's Crush offer teen rom-coms with LGTBQIA+ lead characters and relationships. Crush avoids the coming-out story. Instead, the movie is far more of an average rom-com, common tropes and all, just through the lens of seeing two girls fall in love for the first time.

1 Predictability

10 things i hate about you
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Nearly every teen movie suffers from predictability. It is just too easy to guess the two leading love interests end up together or that the academic student attends an Ivy League university. While some have shown they can be more than the average film, such as Do Revenge, others fall into predictable tropes and storylines. Many of the most popular tropes are done repeatedly with little variety in how they are presented.

For couples such as Brooks and Celia in The Perfect Date or Kat and Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You, the audience knew it was inevitable that the main characters would end up together, even if they did not see it.