# Recommend movies about perky teenage/college girls **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064 "2006-02-05T03:19:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/21 "2006-02-05T16:56:04Z")
_Sugar and Spice_: Perky cheerleaders rob a bank. _Meet Me in St Louis_: Perky girls, old school. _Hairspray_: Tracy’s pretty perky. _Saved!_: OK, maybe not. But, you know, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/22 "2006-02-05T17:07:21Z")
I never saw the end of Saved. It was pretty snarky with a dark undercurrent, if I recall. But the Mandy Moore and Jena Malone cuteness might be enough to offset the darkness with bright-eyed perk. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/23 "2006-02-05T17:09:36Z")
Gorgonzola, you apparently don’t watch much Buffy. This is a pretty silly statement: > [@Gorgonzola](#): > > . . . Buffy is mostly watched by the same girls who’ll want to see _The Heathers_ and _Girl, Interrupted_ and _Wonderfalls_. This, on the other hand– > [@Gorgonzola](#): > > I’d recommend Miyazaki movies for the same reason, but there is always that sector of people who just plain hate animation. Duh. Of course, Miyazaki! Probly \*Nausicaa \*first, then _Princess Mononoke_. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/24 "2006-02-05T20:22:06Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > _Mean Girls_ > I’d also recommend [She’s All That](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160862/). It’s another one of those ugly-duckling-turns-out-to-be-pretty movies. Is that one of those movies where the girl absolutely repulses everyone until she takes off her glasses, at which momentt she is beautiful? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/25 "2006-02-05T20:26:47Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > 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. Haven’t seen it. But the original, 1976 version would not meet the OP’s requirements – because the teenage protagonist is a rough-edged tomboy athlete, not a perky cheerleader type. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/26 "2006-02-05T20:35:14Z")
You know, I would have expected that the heyday of this kind of film would have been in the '50s and early '60s – before feminism and other disturbing trends; the days when a straightforward, unreflecting story about perky teenage girls would have been nothing but normal. I’ve never seen such films from that period, but it seems logical. Yet nobody has nominated any yet. I wonder why? I do recall a few Disney comedies from the '60s about college students, but they all focused on **male** characters – the girls were simply foils and love-interests. Maybe the Frankie-and-Annette beach movies? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/27 "2006-02-05T20:38:35Z")
How about classic stories of young women? Jane Austen is always good - _Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense & Sensibility_. There’s also “Real Women have Curves”, in which the herione isn’t exactly perky, but a possibility. My niece and nephew loved the old version of “Yours, Mine and Ours”, a true story of a widow with 8 kids marrying a widower with 10. StG ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/28 "2006-02-05T21:00:43Z")
“What a Girl Wants” Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth. Cute, perky - no sex, no language, but entertaining and funny (and Colin Firth wears leather pants). The Lizzie McGuire Movie - completely innocent fun with Hillary Duff sneaking off to impersonate a rock star in Roma. Perky as all hell - but Hillary Duff can’t do anything but perky - its her entire range. Chasing Liberty - Mandy Moore as a first daughter who escapes her secret service handlers and runs off in Europe with some strange guy on a motorbike (who turns out to be one of her secret service handlers). Little more sex, but perky…very perky. These are the sweet harmless romantic comedy type movies. No bite. Mean Girls has some bite (and is a good movie). Clueless is well done. Bend it Like Beckham has bite and drama. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/29 "2006-02-05T21:08:30Z")
_What a Girl Wants_ ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286788/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286788/)) is a lot like _The Princess Diaries._ ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/30 "2006-02-05T23:09:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Haven’t seen it. But the original, 1976 version would not meet the OP’s requirements – because the teenage protagonist is a rough-edged tomboy athlete, not a perky cheerleader type. Well, on the one hand you got your Jody Foster. On the other, you got your Lindsey Lohan. Any questions? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/31 "2006-02-05T23:23:53Z")
I would be remiss if I did not mention the paragon of films that involve perky college girls- [Animal House](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Animal_House_Deltas.jpg) Mean Girls, and 10 Things I Hate About You are both excellent !! 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/32 "2006-02-05T23:50:22Z")
If cartoons count, then the _Kim Possible_ movies/series count just fine. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/33 "2006-02-06T00:44:53Z")
Mystic Pizza, sugar and Spice, Drive Me Crazy, MOna Lisa Smile, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Fame (although it did have the TV series to go along with it), Valley girl, 16 Candles, Short Circuit (although I am not sure if Ally sheedy is in college she is about the same age as a college girl, same with Maid to Order. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/34 "2006-02-06T01:10:11Z")
Another vote for **Chasing Liberty** (with Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode), which was a very loose remake of the B&W minor classic \*\*Roman Holliday \*\* (with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck). In both movies, a naive, privileged young princess (or America’s First Daughter) breaks free from her handlers and structured routine and enjoys some freewheeling adventures in picturesque Europe while going incognito – all the while falling in love with a new friend on the fly, who (as a journalist/Secret Service agent) turns out to know who she is and who surreptitiously protects her from various menacing types and unwanted media exposure. In neither tale does the girl lose her virginity with her handsome swain while on the run, although not necessarily for lack of trying. In the original, the social order is primly restored; in the remake, the First Daughter is able to eventually reconnect with the guy while attending college. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/35 "2006-02-06T01:12:49Z")
Or rather, ho **l** iday. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/36 "2006-02-06T03:22:32Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I would be remiss if I did not mention the paragon of films that involve perky college girls- [Animal House](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Animal_House_Deltas.jpg) > Mean Girls, and 10 Things I Hate About You are both excellent !! > > 😃 > > Cartooniverse emm, now that I think of it , have of vivid videos could fall under this heading Declan ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/37 "2006-02-06T04:15:34Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Gorgonzola, you apparently don’t watch much Buffy. This is a pretty silly statement: > [@Gorgonzola](#): > > . . . Buffy is mostly watched by the same girls who’ll want to see The Heathers and Girl, Interrupted and Wonderfalls. Hmm, well, it’s really an observation (and I stand by that observation, whether you find it silly or not) about what teenage and young adult women at my workplace watch, rather than what broads like me watch, but I have watched a season of _Buffy_, after my 6 millionth viewing of the _Firefly_ series. I can’t say much about it, other than that it was no _Firefly_. > [@lissener](#): > > This, on the other hand– > > Duh. Of course, Miyazaki! Probly \*Nausicaa \*first, then _Princess Mononoke_. Honestly, for fluffy girls who are bound to have an instant dislike to anything that looks or feels like anime, these are not good picks. I find _Kiki’s Delivery Service_ makes a much better first Miyazaki exposure for _Bring It On_ types. And no subtitles. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leah\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@Leah\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leah_M)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/38 "2006-02-06T04:52:24Z")
I’m not sure if it fits the genre, but you might try [‘Adventures in Babysitting’](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092513/). It’s pretty silly and has the standard fluffy happy ending. It’s kind of like a Baby-sitters’ Club novel gone awry. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/39 "2006-02-06T05:03:46Z")
> [@Gorgonzola](#): > > Hmm, well, it’s really an observation (and I stand by that observation, whether you find it silly or not) about what teenage and young adult women at my workplace watch, rather than what broads like me watch, but I have watched a season of _Buffy_, after my 6 millionth viewing of the _Firefly_ series. I can’t say much about it, other than that it was no _Firefly_. Well, that makes more sense. Still; Buffy’s pretty universal, once you get past the first season and a half or so. Ultimately, it blows Firefly out of the water. But the OP said the main objection to Buffy was its serial nature. So moot. > [@Gorgonzola](#): > > Honestly, for fluffy girls who are bound to have an instant dislike to anything that looks or feels like anime, these are not good picks. I find _Kiki’s Delivery Service_ makes a much better first Miyazaki exposure for _Bring It On_ types. And no subtitles. 😛 Kiki’s much younger; she’s pretty pre-teeny. Nausicaa and Mononoke–the characters–are older, and the adventures are, um, adventureyer. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064/40 "2006-02-06T05:52:53Z")
I have no desire to speculate, really, **lissener**. I am simply reporting what I have observed from a number of years observing what certain females of this age group will watch, and in what groupings. I kind of got the impression that this was what the OP was asking for. And while I support forever your right to boldly and publicly state that one Joss Whedon series, uh, ultimately blows another out of the water, you were first to mention the word _silly_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-movies-about-perky-teenage-college-girls/343064.md?page=3)