Nothing screams the revival of the 80’s like comedies catering to the teen audience. The 80s are dubbed the golden age of teen comedy. John Hughes ruled the 80s starting with directing the popular Sixteen Candles (1984) starring 80s teen queen Molly Ringwald. The common theme was coming of age and dealing with high school social issues. Sixteen candles lead way to one of the most popular teen comedies of the 80s The Breakfast Club (1985) also starring Molly Ringwald with Judd Nelson, Charlie Sheen and Ally Sheedy (another 80s teen queen). John Hughes was on a role targeting teen angst and struck more gold with Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Pretty in Pink (1986), and Some Kind of Wonderful (1987). Some comedies he made for adults as well as teens were Mr. Mom (1983), National Lampoon's Summer Vacation (1983), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), She’s Having a Baby (1988), Uncle Buck (1989) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).
Most teen males were also targeted with the trend in raunchy teen comedies such as Revenge of the Nerds movies: Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987) and the television movies Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation (1992) and Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love (1994). Also, Porky's (1981) & Porky's II: The Next Day (1983), The Goonies (1985) and the frat favorite Animal House (1978).
Now, with the arrival of Clueless (1995) and most recently American Pie (1999) and American Pie 2 (2001), (and possibly a third on the way) high school teen angst was back more than ever. Mostly labeled romantic teen comedies, the movies coincidentally starred Freddie Prinze Jr. (in most of them, at least). His movies: She's All That (1999), Down to You (2000), Boys and Girls (2000), Head Over Heels (2001) and Summer Catch (2001) all deal with love teen style. Now days when we expect a romantic teen comedy, we expect Prinze to be in the starring role along with an up and coming female teen star.
The 80s equivalent of Prinze would be a young John Cusack in the leading male role also (as Prinze does) reflecting on his teen life and romancing various ‘ungettable’ female leads. His films were Class (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), The Sure Thing (1985), Better Off Dead (1985), Stand by Me (1986), One Crazy Summer (1986) and Say Anything (1989) just to name a few.
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