Head Back to Class With These Favorite Movies About School
Ah, back to school! There’s nothing quite like that crisp fall air, a classroom full of new faces, and a backpack stuffed with blank notebooks. The school year possibilities are endless! Whether you’re headed back yourself, or reminiscing on your school days, we’ve got five movies that will get you in the back-to-school spirit.
Clueless
The movie that made Alicia Silverstone, and her character Cher’s catch phrase, “As if!” famous. While the film oozes 90’s style and slang, it’s actually loosely based on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma. When it comes to overconfident matchmakers, I guess some things never change. The film’s director, Amy Heckerling, studied Beverly Hills high school students to get their lingo down, and it really paid off: Clueless is considered to be one of the best teen films of all time.
School of Rock
When you get tired of regular old math and science, this fun take on a School Movie will hit right every time. These students don’t want to solve long division problems, they just wanna rock! Jack Black is at his very best as struggling rock guitarist Dewey Finn, who poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school after being fired from his band. You’ll be cheering on Dewey and his makeshift band of fourth-graders on their mission to win Battle of the Bands the whole film.
Back To School
Another fun take on your traditional School Movie. To help his discouraged son get through college, a fun-loving and obnoxious businessman (Rodney Dangerfield) decides to enroll as a student himself. Dangerfield’s Thornton Meloni is wealthy but uneducated, and his classroom antics are both hilarious and thought-provoking, as he learns that money cannot buy an education or happiness. I’d take Rodney Dangerfield as a classmate for the laughs and the stories any day of the school week.
Dead Poets Society
In a performance that’s arguably Robin Williams’ career best, Williams plays English teacher John Keating, who values his students over school politics. Williams’ grounded, heartfelt and inspired performance breathes life into Keating, a teacher we would all be lucky to have. If you’re looking for a little back-to-school inspiration, watch this movie. It’ll leave you feeling like you’ve been lectured by the greatest teacher you’ve never had.
Mean Girls
This movie is so iconic, it has its own holiday in its honor. (What day, you ask? It’s October 3rd.) Tina Fey’s 2004 film is a teen school comedy classic, and on the agenda is everything from bullying, to cliquey drama, to romance. It’s everything we can ask for in a School Movie, and that is why it set the bar for all others that dare follow it. Grool!