The Best Teen Movie Of The 21st Century Was Released 24 Years Ago Today (And It’s Still Never Been Topped)

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It’s been 24 years since what many consider the best teen comedy of the 21st century came out, and its impact on the genre has been huge. While the 1980s and 1990s gave us many classic teen movies – think John Hughes films like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club, or modern takes on stories like Cruel Intentions, Clueless, and 10 Things I Hate About You – only one teen movie from the 2000s truly stands out as the decade’s most memorable.

Premiering on April 30, 2004, the hit comedy Mean Girls was created by the talented Tina Fey and directed by Mark Waters, known for Freaky Friday. The film features a fantastic cast including Lindsay Lohan as Cady, a new student who quickly finds herself navigating the challenging social scene of high school. She’s pulled into a fierce competition for popularity with the school’s elite clique, known as the Plastics.

Mean Girls Is The Greatest Teen Movie Since 2000

Janice and Damian, two students who don’t quite fit in, befriend Cady and convince her to become friends with the popular “Plastics” group. Their real plan, however, is for Cady to get revenge on Regina George, the group’s leader, who Janice dislikes. As Cady gets more involved with the Plastics, she starts to act just as mean and manipulative as Regina, and things quickly get out of hand. Inspired by Rosalind Wiseman’s book, Queen Bees and Wannabes, Mean Girls is a funny and insightful teen comedy with a surprisingly kind heart.

While several teen movies released since 2000 could be considered the best, none have had the same lasting effect on popular culture as Mean Girls. Films like Rian Johnson’s Brick and the unique Donnie Darko were clever and creative, but they appealed to a smaller audience. Even the recent and excellent Do Revenge, a modern take on a Hitchcock thriller, clearly draws a lot of inspiration from Mean Girls.

Mean Girls Defined The 21st Century Teen Movie

Do Revenge isn’t the only film influenced by Mean Girls. Movies like Easy A, the comedy Bottoms, John Tucker Must Die, The Duff, She’s The Man, and Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging all use similar humor. Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade and the dramedy Edge of Seventeen explore similar themes and emotional depth, reflecting the insightful writing of Mean Girls. And films like Booksmart and Unpregnant, like Mean Girls, offer a relatable look at feminist concepts.

The remake of She’s All That, called He’s All That, was even directed by the same person who made Mean Girls, showing how much influence that film still has on teen movies made after the year 2000. Though the 2024 Mean Girls musical remake didn’t quite live up to the original, the first Mean Girls movie remains a classic and unforgettable part of teen cinema, more than 20 years after it first came out.

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2026-04-30 23:10