Top 20 Teen Movie Moments That Made Us Ugly Cry

Sometimes, all it takes is one kid speaking up. “Freedom Writers” is based on the true story of Erin Gruwell, an English teacher who had her students keep diaries about the hardships in their lives. In one moving scene, a kid who hasn’t really spoken up before asks Ms. Gruwell if he can read from his diary. He tells a story of how he and his mother were evicted from their home, the experience so traumatic that he didn’t feel like returning to school was worth it. But then, stepping into Ms. Gruwell’s English class, he was reminded that he does have a place where he belongs. The scene is a touching reminder of the effect that a good teacher can have on someone.

Leave it to mom to bring out the waterworks. “Love, Simon” is about a closeted high schooler who struggles to come out to his loved ones. Unfortunately, the choice to come out to most of his friends is taken away from him. This also forces him to come out to his parents, before he’s necessarily ready. While the initial conversation doesn’t go quite as well as planned, Simon is later able to speak with both of his parents separately. And the conversation with his mother? Well, let’s just say it breaks out hearts in the best way possible. Played by the lovely Jennifer Garner, she skewers to the center of what her son is experiencing in only the way a maternal figure can.

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” follows the ups and downs of friendship between three friends: Charlie, Sam, and Patrick. It deals with a lot of really heavy themes that can be difficult to watch, but somehow ends in a place that feels positive. At the end of the film, the trio drive through a tunnel while listening to David Bowie’s song “Heroes” – something they’ve done before. As the wind whips against Charlie’s face, he speaks three triumphant words in a callback moment that always gets us. Everything these three have been through has been so tough, it’s hard not to cry through your smile as you watch.

Dealing with your sexuality when you’re a teenager is difficult enough as it is. But feeling forced into making a decision between yourself and your family because of it is even worse. “Pariah” follows a 17-year-old named Alike as she begins to accept that she’s a lesbian. However, her mother and to a lesser extent her father have a more difficult time coming to grips with this truth about their daughter. After a confrontation with her mom turns violent, Alike decides to move to California. As the film comes to an end, she shares a poem that says she is “not running” but rather “choosing.” It’s a beautiful moment of self-acceptance, and one that leaves us weepy to this day.

It’s not quite the original teen romance, but it’s very close! “West Side Story” is based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” It follows the love story between Maria and Tony, who both fall on opposite sides of a gang conflict in 1950s New York City. The two try to make their love work, but family and violence get between them. The musical ends with Tony’s death, another casualty of a pointless, ongoing war. After he dies, Maria delivers a stirring speech about the toxic power of hate. As everyone looks on, she finally breaks down, unable to handle the tragic truth of what’s occurred. We’re right there with her.

“The Spectacular Now” is one of the most criminally underrated teen movies of the past decade. It’s warm, funny, and has more than a few scenes that are sure to make you cry. It follows the romance between Aimee and Sutter. After a trip to see Sutter’s neglectful father goes wrong, he takes out his frustration on Aimee during the ride home. He claims she’s lying when she says she loves him and makes her exit his car, saying he’s not good for her. When she steps out in the middle of the road, an oncoming vehicle hits her. Aimee ends up alright, but the scene is so emotionally fraught, it’s hard not to be affected.

“The Breakfast Club” is one of the most beloved teen movies of all time. But there’s so much joy and fun to be had, it’s easy to forget some of the heavier themes it contains. Yet there’s plenty of content to make you ugly cry, with one revelation from the shy Brian in particular standing out. While the teens are talking about how they ended up in detention, Brian reveals that he brought a weapon to school, intending to end his own life. He feels immense pressure to do well academically because of his parents, but this attempt barely even registered on their radars. It’s a haunting moment, and actor Anthony Michael Hall handles it with great care.

Throughout 2012’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” there are hints that something is going on beneath the surface with the main character, Charlie. We know from the jump that he lives with depression, and we’re given a few clues regarding the details. Still, it never feels like we have the full story. That changes at the tail end of the film. During a harrowing and confusing sequence, we learn that Charlie was previously abused by his aunt Helen, something he had suppressed. The scene that reveals this information is extremely disorienting and tragic, anchored by a very strong performance from actor Logan Lerman. Watching Charlie struggle with the flashbacks – and eventually understand and remember what happened to him – is almost impossible to bear.

“The Last Song” hinges on a few mysteries, like who started the church fire? And, most importantly, why did Jonah and Ronnie’s dad suddenly decide that he had to spend the summer with his kids? Among all the answers we get, the one to the last question is the most gut-wrenching. After Ronnie’s dad collapses, we learn that he has terminal cancer and has been keeping it from his children. Ronnie confronts him, and the scene that unfolds between them is striking in every way. There’s righteous anger on her part, but there’s also so much love and reconciliation. It’s heart-wrenchingly beautiful to behold, and makes their final moments together later on all the more impactful.

In “The Fault in Our Stars,” Isaac is the character who delivers a lot of necessary comedic relief. And when your plot revolves around two kids with cancer falling in love, that humor is necessary. But even he gets his moment to make us weep uncontrollably. When Gus is coming to grips with the fact that he'll die soon, he asks for a “pre-funeral” to be held so that he can attend. During the event, Isaac gives a eulogy for Gus. As you might expect, the speech is filled with jokes and zingers galore. He makes sure to make us laugh at first, but our giggles promptly dissolve into tears when he gets to the end of his speech.

There aren’t a lot of teen movies out there that so heavily feature the relationship between a mother and a daughter. “Lady Bird” handles the complexities that come with that bond with equal parts seriousness and humor. And there’s one scene in particular that wrecks us whenever we watch it. Upset that Lady Bird is going to college in New York, her mother Marion initially doesn’t get out of the car to say bye to her at the airport. She then becomes emotional after driving off and returns to make things right, but Lady Bird has already left. Laurie Metcalf, who plays Marion, is wonderful in the scene, pouring her emotion through the screen right into the audience.

A lot of movies have taglines, but most of them don’t turn us into blubbering messes at the drop of a hat. In “The Fault in Our Stars,” Gus and Hazel Grace have a simple rapport between them, and every time they say “okay” to each other, it renders us speechless. But there’s no more soul-stirring use of the “okay” turn of phrase than in Gus’s letter to Hazel. After his funeral, it’s revealed he left a eulogy for Hazel to read following his passing. In it, he expresses his love for her and the fact that he has accepted his death, helping her to begin moving on, too. Everything might not be okay now, but thanks to this moment, we know it will be.

“A Walk to Remember” follows the burgeoning friendship and subsequent romance between bad boy Landon and the religious Jamie. When the two first start hanging out, she tells him that whatever happens, he cannot develop feelings for her. He scoffs at the assertion, but of course, he falls for her – and the feeling is mutual. That’s what makes it extra heartbreaking for everyone involved when she reveals she has leukemia, and that the doctors don’t think she’ll get better. There’s so much at stake, and it’s such an intense, charged revelation, so it’s no wonder the scene always reduces us to tears. Still, we’re happy Landon didn’t take Jamie’s initial advice, because their love story is one for the books.

Some might say that, compared to other things that happen in teen movies, a poem about a boy doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. But we strongly disagree when it comes to this particular poem and this particular delivery from actress Julia Stiles. It leaves us awe-struck and weepy every time. After learning that her love interest, Patrick, initially only dated her because he was paid to do so, Kat is heartbroken. So she writes about him for a class assignment that she then reads in front of everyone – including him. Her words are poignant and extremely relatable. Most people have felt how Kat does in this moment, and it’s hard not to get choked up alongside her.

There’s plenty of trash men in movies, like Jason Bateman’s character in “Juno”. He’s Mark Loring, one half of a married couple who plans to adopt teen Juno’s child. He and Juno have lots in common, and at first everything seems innocent. But later, he reveals that he has feelings for the teen, and plans to leave his wife Vanessa. This is hideously inappropriate and gross, and also puts Juno through the ringer. Though she leaves the Lorings’ house in anger, she later returns to drop off a note. We’re unsure of what exactly it says until the end, when we see that Vanessa, ready to be a single mom, has framed it. “If you’re still in I’m still in.” Cue the tears.

You might remember “Pretty in Pink” as a frothy, flirty teen movie, featuring actors like Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, and Andrew McCarthy. You can’t get more ‘80s fun than that! But there’s a lot more to it. One storyline in particular gets us crying no matter how many rewatches it’s been. Ringwald is Andie, a teenager whose mother left her and her father Jack – something he’s still reeling from. In a gripping scene, she confronts her dad, played by Harry Dean Stanton, about his inability to let her mom go. Over the course of the scene, Andie speaks some pretty difficult truths to Jack, with both Ringwald and Stanton delivering compelling and emotionally sound performances.

“Five Feet Apart” is a movie that’s basically designed to rip your heart in half. It follows a developing romance between Stella and Will, two teens who have cystic fibrosis. Because of the severity of their vulnerabilities, they’re not allowed to get closer than six feet to one another. Of course, the love between them, along with other circumstances, cause them to break the rule. At the end of the film, while she’s recovering from surgery, he makes the decision to end their relationship so as to not risk infecting her. Before he goes, he leaves her a sketchbook that depicts memories of their time together. It’s incredibly difficult to watch – we know it’s what must be done, but it hurts!

Middle school can be one of the worst, most difficult times in a young person’s life. Thank goodness for those, like parents, who are there through the hard stuff. After a slew of anxiety-inducing, and in some cases downright scary, events in her life, eighth-grader Kayla uncovers a time capsule she made for herself a few years prior. She decides to burn it, and enlists her father’s help. As they get to work, she asks a devastating question. The quiver of her voice alone is enough to bring on the waterworks, but her dad’s amazing response is what really sets us over the edge. It’s exactly what we all needed to hear.

When you’re young, it can be hard to separate the good from the bad when it comes to parents or guardians. It can be easy to idolize the one who’s in the wrong while vilifying the other for all kinds of reasons. That’s what makes this scene from “The Spectacular Now” so powerful. After a disastrous meeting with his absentee father, Sutter struggles and spirals. And he becomes wracked with the fear that he might turn out like his dad. He takes that anger out on his mother, who comforts him and helps him realize that couldn’t be further from the truth. The scene is deeply moving, and is further bolstered by incredible performances from Jennifer Jason Leigh and Miles Teller.

Leave it to Timothée Chalamet to turn us into puddles on the floor without saying a word. “Call Me by Your Name” is filled with a plethora of moments that hit us straight in the feels. Mr. Perlman’s wonderful speech about love and pain comes to mind. But the scene that unfolds at the film’s conclusion will always stand out from the rest. Right after Oliver has called Elio and told him that he’s getting married soon, the latter takes a seat in front of the fireplace. The camera frames his face, and he begins to silently weep. We watch his expression run the gamut of emotions, sending our hearts on a rollercoaster of emotion as well.