Recommend movies about perky teenage/college girls

Cafe Society
1

I’m not even going to delve into why one of the crankiest members of the SDMB has been put in the position of finding cheerful, light, fluffy movies featuring high school and college girls, perferably of the sporty, peppy variety. My teeth are already gritted just from typing that sentence.

I need recommendations for movies along the lines of Bring It On, Ice Princess, and Man of the House, rather than, say, Heathers, which would be much more my personal taste. I’m going to be subjected to watching them regardless, so please, recommend films that are at least reasonably well-made. I don’t expect to like them, but I don’t need my eyes to bleed. Must be movies rather than episodes of TV series, because my efforts with works like Buffy and Veronica Mars have failed miserably for silly, stupid reasons related to the serial nature of the medium no matter how self-contained the episode in question.

Help me, Dopers. You are my only hope.

2

Scottish movie–gregory’s girl-- Not about hs girls, but a few are in it
bend it like beckham,

3

Mean Girls 2004
Very well done, Lindsay Lohan & Tina Fey who wrote it.

Legally Blonde (2001)
Funny piece of fluff.

Clueless (1995)
Funny piece of fluff.

Jim

4

Josie and the Pussycats - A surprisingly entertaining movie. Admittedly, the women in it weren’t actually high school/college students, but they were of that age.

5

Mean Girls, as I recall, was more along the lines of Heathers: A dark-hearted satire on the peppy-girl phenomenon rather than a cheerfully callous embracing of it. I could be wrong.

Clueless was actually a pretty good flick, I thought. Being based on Emma didn’t hurt.

I’d also recommend She’s All That. It’s another one of those ugly-duckling-turns-out-to-be-pretty movies. I love how these movies start out with the heroine being a proud outcast, turning away from the high school popularity-machine, but then in the end when she gets her “victory,” this always involves the captain of the football team falling for her. This one, at least, had some wit in the dialogue. (Kevin Pollak was especially good as the ugly duckling’s comical father.)

If you want to blow some impressionable young minds–I assume you’re chaperoning a slumber party or something-- try showing them Ghost World. (NOTE: I am kidding. In case you’re not aware, this movie is not at all what you’re looking for. It is a great flick, though.)

Too bad my little sister’s not on-line right now; I’d ask her for some recommendations.

6

Charlie’s Angels was idiotic, but pretty fun idiocy. Does that count?

Welcome to the Dollhouse is a light, fluffy romp about a junior high girl. It may be out of the age range, but why not stretch a little?

Daniel
who also recommends Meet the Feebles as “A nostalgic homage to your childhood”

7

Election. More Clueless than Heathers if I recall.

8

[QUOTE=Left Hand of DorknessWelcome to the Dollhouse is a light, fluffy romp about a junior high girl. It may be out of the age range, but why not stretch a little?[/QUOTE]
“Light?” “Fluffy?” You are joking, right? Or else you’re not talking about Todd Solondz’s movie by that name The one with dialog like:

"High school’s better than junior high. They’ll call you names, but not as much to your face. "

or

Dawn Weiner: Why do you hate me?
Lolita: Because you’re ugly.

Man, if that’s light and fluffy, I’d hate to see what you think of as heavy and depressing. :slight_smile:

Great flick, though. But it makes Heathers look like a laugh riot.

More like the OP would be:
Grease
The Princess Diaries (actually quite tolerable; Anne Hathaway makes it work)
There’s also the criminally underrated Ella Enchanted if you’re looking for fantasy.

9

Great movie, but not very 'light & fluffy".

10

Dorkness is making a “funny” with his *Dollhouse *recommendation (unless rape is light and fluffy). As evidenced by his witty characterization of Meet the Feebles. Just FYI, don’t rent any of his recommendations; they’re more in the nature of a practical joke than a straightforward recommendation.

Howbout Dick?

Second* Bend It Like Beckham.*

*Tank Girl *is HYlarryus, plus it gave us Naomi Watts.

Also, one of my favorite movies of that year was the recent remake of Freaky Friday. And it’s intended for a younger audience, while many of these other recommendations have some adultish situations.

I’d say Clueless, Beckham, and *Friday *are my strongest recommendations.

11

I have no teenage girls (yet), but I have worked with youths and young women for about twenty years.

The classics of this genre are Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, and Zoolander. They will still irritate you (since you’re going to have to watch them, you said), but they get watched over and over and over again.

12

How about D.E.B.S. Granted, the lead romance is between two college-age girls, but otherwise its a fluffy fantasy about college girls, exactly as you requested.

13

Hmm, let’s see what I can recall from my teenage years.

10 Things I Hate About You – This is pretty good. It’s kind of a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, but more romantic by modern standards, i.e. less spousal abuse. (And isn’t that always a good thing?) My first date movie. sniffle

Little Women – Okay, I realize this is neither light nor fluffy, compared to Legally Blonde. But all of my friends and I loved this movie when we were in middle school. It’s good for a get-together with your girlfriends, when you want to eat a little ice cream and cry a little.

Ever After – Oh, god. I love this movie. Danielle (Drew Barrymore) kicks some serious butt. A retelling of Cinderella. Special guest appearance by Leonardo da Vinci. “Yes, I shall go down in history as the man who opened a door!”

Can’t Hardly Wait – Eh, it’s in the genre and it’s watchable, but I’d for She’s All That instead. I cared more about the secondary characters than the main characters.

Drew Barrymore movies – A pretty big category, but I realized as I was brainstorming that a lot the movies I was thinking of had Drew Barrymore in them. She has a tendency to star in fluffy movies that aren’t horrible. (Talk about damning with faint praise! I’d choose Drew Barrymore over any other number of actresses.) A list follows.

Never Been Kissed – Set in a high school, where Barrymore is undercover as a student. Romantic comedy.
The Wedding Singer – I like this a lot, but if you can’t stand Adam Sandler, skip it. Better for 10th grade and up than middle school.
Fever Pitch – Jimmy Fallon opposite Barrymore. Much baseball, some crude humor. Same age range as The Wedding Singer.
The Charlie’s Angels movies. Both of 'em, but the first one moreso.

Drop Dead Gorgeous – Kirsten Dunst. A beauty pageant in Minnesota, a murder, FUN! Not necessarily good, but fun.

The Prince & Me – I recommend this solely because it was set in Wisconsin, and it showed the cleanest damned dairy farm I’ve ever seen. See The Princess Diaries instead if you want a modern-day fairy tale. Or, heck, either Sabrina.

I want to suggest some Molly Ringwald movies, but it’s been such a long time since I’ve watched any that I don’t know which ones to go for. Probably Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. Not The Breakfast Club. Betsy’s Wedding might work, though.

Selkie, I certainly hope you have maintained your sanity after watching all these movies.

On preview, I heartily second Dick and Beckham.

14

Is it too personal to ask why…? Seems weird, to some extent, unless it is a bet or exortion ring.

15

I should have mentioned this earlier, but you also can’t go wrong with The Princess Bride.

16

Well, except it Buffy didn’t work . . . maybe smart-alecky fantasies are out.

17

Nah. The Princess Bride seems to have a much broader range of appeal, especially in the double X chromosome crowd. Buffy is mostly watched by the same girls who’ll want to see The Heathers and Girl, Interrupted and Wonderfalls. I’d recommend Miyazaki movies for the same reason, but there is always that sector of people who just plain hate animation.

18

Um, guy here, who loves Buffy along with Scorsese, Tarantino, film noir, martial arts movies, and raunchy comedies, among other things (such as football and pro wrestling).

19

That’s nice.

20

My sanity was ripped to shreds after about the tenth showing of Bring It On, and The Princess Diaries. Neither of those were terrible movies, but after that many viewings I flee at the mere mention of them. Don’t even mention Coyote Ugly in my presence. I love Beckham, which they thought was “nice” but won’t rewatch, and they won’t even try The Princess Bride, which I wouldn’t mind seeing again.

As for the recommendations thus far. Wow. Wow wow wow. They’ve seen a few movies on these lists, but there are many more they haven’t. On the one hand, it’s a little scary that there are so many light fluffy perky movies available. On the other, it’s great news for the few remaining shreds of rationality I cling to that perhaps there are options beyond the umpteen trillionth viewing of the same old titles. By all means, keep the suggestions coming. I’m making a permanent list. I can’t wait to spring The Prince & Me on them, because one grew up on a Midwestern dairy farm, and I have to get my laughs somewhere.

As for who “they” are, all I’ll say is that it’s neither the logical choice of a teenage girl slumber party, nor is it squicky and creepy. It’s just … strange. Strange even by my elevated standards.