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Since the 1980s and '90s golden age of high school comedies, the genre has fallen victim to clichés. Well-worn plots, predictable characterizations, and recycled jokes have transformed these teenage romps, which range from incredibly fluffy to despicably raunchy, depending on the mood of the culture at the time, into self-parodies.
The latest example of the genre's tropes: The Inbetweeners, a 2011 coming-of-age comedy that's based on the British sitcom of the same name and is finally hitting the States this week. As funny as the movie is, the story of four recently graduated high school friends going on a vacation in Crete together can't go its running time without employing several overused themes and devices. You'll know them when you see them—for the umpteenth time—but in case you don't, Complex helps you spot them with a countdown of The 10 Biggest High School Comedy Movie Clichés.
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Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)
10. The “evil” teacher or principal
Notable example: The Breakfast Club (1985), Back to the Future (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Summer School (1987)
No one likes their teachers in high school, and, in all honesty, the teachers don’t like the students much, either. So when Hollywood is putting together these high school comedies, it’s vital that the ongoing struggle between educator and pupil be present. But instead of giving audiences anything close to reality, high school comedies often make the teachers and principals at these schools as cartoonishly evil as an entire faculty of Bond villains.
The most famous of these vile educators has to be Jeffery Jones as Principal Edward Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Filled with rage and malice, Rooney is an ulcer waiting to happen, and the perfect foil for the rebellious Bueller. He quickly became the blueprint for all other two-dimensional teen comedy villains to follow.
9. The jocks are the bad guys
Notable examples: Heathers (1988), Dazed and Confused (1993), Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), She’s All That (1999), American Pie (1999)
Every movie needs a bad guy, and because Hollywood doesn't like to step out of the box all too often, it usually picks the overly aggressive high school jock as the antagonists in its teen comedies. These muscle-bound meatheads are often portrayed as being incredibly stupid and irrational, and they are also usually abusive to their girlfriend, who just so happens to be the dream girl for the main character. Did we mention that they’re also experts at giving wedgies, swirlies, and the dreaded towel snap?
While the nerds always wind up taking their revenge on the jocks by the end, it doesn't make up for all of the abuse they take throughout the whole story. This stereotype has become so commonplace in movies that it has entered into the overall views of society. It has gotten to the point that the mere sight of a varsity jacket should send anyone with a GPA over 3.5 cowering in fear.
8. The nerdy girl gets a makeover
Notable examples: Grease (1978), The Breakfast Club (1985), She’s All That (1999), Mean Girls (2004)
You know that nerdy girl who's introduced at the beginning of countless high school comedies with the frumpy clothing and thick glasses (and is obviously quite hot underneath)? Well, don’t get too used to her because chances are that she'll receive a drastic makeover by the end in order to land the big man on campus. Gone are the glasses, homemade sweaters, and ponytails in favor of low-cut shirts and gaudy lipstick.
Taking their cues from others works like Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, these teen flicks often try to show us that being yourself isn’t quite good enough, so sometimes a complete image change is necessary so you can fit society’s definition of beauty. We wouldn’t suggest getting too many of your life lessons from these movies.
7. The fat friend
Notable examples: Heathers (1988), Not Another Teen Movie (2001), Superbad (2007)
If there is one rule in comedy it’s that fat is funny. And that's why these movies require that the main character has an overweight friend there to provide the laughs and distract the audience from the hackneyed love story unfolding in front of them. It’s vital for this friend to not only be large, but often stupid as well. No one wants to see a slob reciting Shakespeare like an underage Ignatius J. Reilly.
These characters give us someone to poke fun at without feeling any remorse as they bumble and fumble their way through their formative high school years. These movies never really take risks by giving us a fat friend that breaks the mold and winds up becoming a success, and over the years these archetypes have become a comfortable constant for audiences. Remember, no matter how bad things may be going for you, there is always a fat kid to laugh at.
6. The quest to lose one's virginity
Notable examples: American Pie (1999), Sex Drive (2008), The Virginity Hit (2010)
It’s no secret that most high school kids are motivated by one thing: sex. So, naturally, the plot of pretty much every teen comedy revolves around the beast with two backs. But for every Joe Fullback that spends each weekend bedding the head cheerleader, there are a dozen or so newly-post-pubescent students who have a better chance of hitting the lottery in each continental state than they do of actually landing a girl. That’s why so many of these characters are in a mad dash to lose their virginity before graduation.
In the same way that Indiana Jones was obsessed with finding the Ark of the Covenant, these kids put all of their efforts into finding the one girl who is willing to sleep with them. Usually this competition comes down to the wire, and rarely is it ever satisfying for anyone involved.
5. A very awkward sex scene
Notable examples: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), American Pie (1999), Superbad (2007)
It simply wouldn’t be a high school comedy without a cringe-worthy sex scene slapped right into the middle of the plot somewhere. Most of these writers and directors seem to take perverse glee in making us witness the embarrassing exploits of their sweaty-palmed main characters as if they’re channeling some earlier trauma they themselves experienced on prom weekend.
This sexual awkwardness can include anything from the main character having trouble unhooking a bra, to experiencing the dread of a woefully premature ejaculation, to everything in between. Not all of these uncomfortable scenes have to even include two human beings, mind you. American Pie proved that the love between a man and a freshly baked pie could be just as awkward.
4. The nerd is a sex machine
Notable examples: American Pie (1999), Superbad (2007)
This cliché isn’t as widespread as some of the other ones on the list, but we always see this one coming from a mile away anyway. In most high school comedies there is the ultra-nerdy kid who makes the star of the movie look like Errol Flynn in comparison. However, instead of making these characters remain undesirable for the entirety of the movie, some writers do a complete 180 and turn that onetime nerd into a bonafide stud or freaky sexpot at some point in the film.
It happened in Superbad with McLovin, and it happened most famously in American Pie, when Finch gave it to Stifler’s mom on a pool table and Michelle revealed the truth about band camp . This is meant as nothing more than just a touch of ironic humor, but it does make heroes of these geeky characters.
3. The modest friend is actually their dream girl
Notable examples: Teen Wolf (1985), American Pie (1999), Sex Drive (2008)
Like most men, the main characters in high school comedies are inevitably drawn to the busty beauties of the student body. But while these average Joe's are wasting their time on women who wouldn’t notice them if they burst into flames before their eyes, there is almost always a more modest looking and, ultimately, cool-as-hell female friend who is head-over-heels in love with them.
From Teen Wolf, where Michael J. Fox's lycanthrope lover boy fails to see his friend Boof for the hot, shallow blonde, to American Pie, where Jim fails to realize he's a better match with Michelle than hot foreign exchange student Nadia, we see that guys focus on looks more than internal beauty. If these dudes just opened their eyes a little sooner, we wouldn’t have to waste an hour and a half watching them whine about not getting laid or being underappreciated.
2. An underage kegger
Notable examples: Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), American Pie (1999), I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009), Project X (2012)
Whether you loved it or hated it, everyone remembers their first high school party. These things usually take place in the home of the spoiled rich kid who is desperate for friends while his/her parents are away at their time share. And the best part is that they almost always end with trips to the hospital, a visit by the police, and, of course, some drunken projectile vomiting. And in almost every high school comedy forged inside of a Hollywood think tank, these parties are meticulously recreated in all of their booze-soaked glory.
These scenes usually serve as the climax of the movie where the lovesick lead either finally gets the girl, or is rejected in grand fashion. A fight usually ensues, life lessons are learned, and the guy no one expects to get laid usually gets the hottest girls at the party. One of the most memorable examples was the party towards the end of Superbad that managed to fit in all of these clichés, while still being funny.
1. A nerd falls for a hot girl
Notable examples: Can’t Buy Me Love (1987), Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), Superbad (2007), I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009)
As if it weren't enough to watch the endless saga of a nerd trying to find love on the big screen, high school comedies often find it necessary to make the object of their affections the most drop-dead gorgeous girls imaginable. Sure, the actresses playing these peroxide-powered bits of jailbait are usually well into their 20s when they sign on to these roles, but they still make all of us nostalgic for the hot captain of the cheerleading squad who we all knew (or stared at longingly from a safe distance) back in school.
Like the disturbing pang of curiosity we all get while passing by a car accident, witnessing these hapless dorks and geeks try to land the homecoming queens is just so satisfying. Sometimes writers and directors will shake things up by having the beauty go for the dork, but we usually prefer our nerds to be left in the dust. Why? Because we’ve all been there before.