There’s no shortage of Gen X movie lists. (And lists about underrated or underappreciated Gen X films probably aren’t suffering either.) But what’s more Gen X than a list of the most overlooked Gen X movies?
After all, the generation started the whole “I liked it before it was cool” thing. (Or was that the boomers?) Regardless, shunning the mainstream is a defining characteristic of the Gen X ethos—even if it’s not a characteristic of people themselves.
So here are—arguably and contentiously—the most overlooked and underappreciated (but quintessentially) Gen X movies and how to watch them.
The Bad News Bears (1977)
For all intents and purposes, The Bad News Bears is the first truly Gen X film that fits our definition of “Gen X movie”.
Set in 1976, The Bears range in age from 6 to 14 and are essentially a team of latchkey kids—something that didn’t exist 15 years earlier when Leave it to Beaver ruled the airwaves.
Without helicopter parents hovering nearby, the kids fend for themselves—a common Gen X badge of honor found in memes across the interweb. And even though it’s tame by today’s (or even 90s) standards, the movie has kids swearing, spitting, smoking, and already seeing psychiatrists.
Tatum O’Neal stars as an 11-year-old pitcher who’s insecure about being a tomboy (before that concept was socially deprecated). This is just one of the themes that goes deeper than a superficial kids sports movie. Sure, it follows the typical trope of “misfits” making good, but it also boldly questions (and challenges) The American Dream.
From racism to capitalism, it takes on a lot for a kids’ comedy. Most of it probably went over its audience’s head, but that’s part of the brilliance of The Bad News Bears.
The Bad News Bears (1976)
- Genre:
- Family, Comedy
- Director:
- Michael Ritchie
- Main Cast:
- Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow, Joyce Van Patten, Ben Piazza
- Overview:
- An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league.
Where to stream it
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Wait, what? How can a movie starring boomer royalty Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep be a Gen X movie?
Because they’re getting divorced.
And who suffers the most in a divorce? The kids. And yuppie couple Ted and Joanne have a six-year-old son named Billy.
It’s been called the adult movie for Gen X kids, and that appellation couldn’t be more apropos. For kids in 1979, even if you hadn’t seen Kramer vs. Kramer, you’d not only heard about it, you knew what it was about.
Divorce wasn’t a new thing in 1979, but the divorce rates had doubled in the past 10 years, setting off societal alarm bells like an approaching air raid. Along with nuclear war, getting abducted, and piranhas, divorce was one of the things that Gen X kids feared most.
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
- Genre:
- Drama
- Director:
- Robert Benton
- Main Cast:
- Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry, Howard Duff
- Overview:
- Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.
Where to stream it
My Bodyguard (1980)
No, this isn’t that time Whitney Houston was saved by and swooned over Kevin Costner. (That came 12 years later.) My Bodyguard is a touching little teen dramedy that time has all but forgotten.
It marked the film debuts for both Adam Baldwin and Jennifer Beals—3 years before Flashdance—and was the first major movie for Joan Cusack.
When the new kid at school arrives in a limo, he immediately attracts the attention of a gang of bullies led by Gen X teen idol Matt Dillon. So he does what any kid with cash would do—he hires a bodyguard.
It’s got the standard themes of loyalty, friendship, and the struggles of adolescence. And even if it might seem only a cut or 2 above made-for-TV fare, it’s aged a lot better than many of its contemporaries.
And the message still resonates today, perhaps even more than it did back then.
My Bodyguard (1980)
- Genre:
- Comedy, Drama, Family
- Director:
- Tony Bill
- Main Cast:
- Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin, Matt Dillon, Paul Quandt, Hank Salas
- Overview:
- Clifford Peach, an easygoing teenager, is finding less than easy to fit in at his new high school, where a tough-talking bully terrorizes his classmates and extorts their lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Clifford enlist the aid of an overgrown misfit whose mere presence intimidates students and teachers alike. But their "business relationship" soon turns personal as Clifford and the troubled loner forge a winning alliance against their intimidators - and a very special friendship with each other.
Where to stream it
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1982)
Two teenage sisters and their cousin start a punk band in small-town Pennsylvania amid the early-80s recession in Regan’s America. Even though they can’t play and have no songs, The Stains become an overnight sensation with a legion of female teenage fans.
I’m perfect! But nobody in this shithole gets me, because I don’t put out!
Corrine “Third Degree” Burns
The band members are young themselves—Diane Lane was just 15 and Laura Dern turned 13 during the shoot—which makes the characters and cast both Gen X.
Adding some punk cred, a few real-life “stars” also have small acting roles, including the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Paul Cook, and Paul Simonon of The Clash.
The satire’s indictment of the music industry’s sexualization of young women did little to stop the trend from happening, but it wasn’t without impact. While it didn’t get a wide theatrical release, the cult film inspired Gen X’s riot grrrl movement a decade later in the early 90s.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)
- Genre:
- Comedy, Drama, Music
- Director:
- Lou Adler
- Main Cast:
- Diane Lane, Ray Winstone, Peter Donat, David Clennon, John Lehne
- Overview:
- Corrine Burns retreats far into plans for her band, The Fabulous Stains, after her mother's death.
Where to stream it
WarGames (1983)
Monochromatic home computers were at the bleeding edge of technology—and the height of nerdom— in 1983 and it didn’t take long for Hollywood to take note.
Not only was WarGames one of the first hacker movies, it combined the trope with one of the biggest worries in every Gen X kid’s life—the advent of World War III.
Gen X poster child Matthew Broderick stars as high schooler David Lightman, arguably the first hacker-slacker in cinematic history. He does all the early-80s teen hacker things—like changing school grades—until he accidentally hacks into NORAD’s defense system and hears those famous words:
Do you want to play a game?His response is, of course: Global Thermonuclear War.
The movie turned geeks into heroes, laying the groundwork for countless films to follow, starting with Revenge of the Nerds in 1984, and Real Genius and My Science Project in 1985. The hero nerd became a staple of Gen X movies.
WarGames (1983)
- Genre:
- Thriller, Science Fiction, Drama
- Director:
- John Badham
- Main Cast:
- Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin
- Overview:
- High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his girlfriend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.
Where to stream it
Red Dawn (1984)
If WarGames didn’t make it clear, one thing that every kid—and probably most adults—feared in the 1980s, was World War III. Nukes and commies were a constant threat ominously hanging over every day life like the cloud of Daedalus.
Red Dawn feasts on that fear and has Russian ground troops invade the continental US. (They somehow make it all the way to Colorado without being noticed.)
So what better way to face that fear than have The Outsiders stand up to—and kick the borscht out of—the invading Russkies? Sure, it’s alarmist and jingoistic and overly simplistic, but it’s just a movie. Lighten up Ebert.
In the early days of World War III, guerrillas, mostly children, placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so “that this nation shall not perish from the earth.”
Memorial plaque, Calumet, Colorado
Red Dawn (1984)
- Genre:
- Action, Thriller, War, Drama, Science Fiction
- Director:
- John Milius
- Main Cast:
- Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Darren Dalton
- Overview:
- It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town—and their country—from invading Soviet forces.
Where to stream it
Suburbia (1983)
Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris—who gave us the incomparable Decline of Western Civilization trilogy—wrote and directed this film about a group of suburban punk runaways.
The kids leave abusive and neglectful homelifes and, banding together, live in abandoned cookie cutter houses that are the scourge of urban sprawl.
The of boredom and disillusionment of 80s suburban life are strong here and Spheeris used real street kids for actors, (now famously) including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Suburbia (1984)
- Genre:
- Drama, Music, Thriller
- Director:
- Penelope Spheeris
- Main Cast:
- Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, Jennifer Clay, Timothy Eric O'Brien, Wade Walston
- Overview:
- When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.
Where to stream it
👀 CHECK IT OUT
Repo Man (1984)
Set in 1980s Los Angeles, Alex Cox’s cult classic Repo Man was a shout-out to the disaffected youth of the day.
And with a soundtrack that includes L.A. punk bands Fear, Suicidal Tendencies, and Black Flag—and a live performance by the Circle Jerks—the movie was as punk as it got.
It was simply just cool.
Brat Packer Emilio Estevez stars as Otto, a punk rock stock boy who mindlessly feeds the grocery store shelves with generic boxes of “Food” and “Beer”.
On top of the scathing indictment of consumerism and capitalism, a fun X-Files-ish plot drives the film. Repo Man could make for a fun, dichotomous, Gen X double feature with Red Dawn.
Repo Man (1984)
- Genre:
- Comedy, Science Fiction
- Director:
- Alex Cox
- Main Cast:
- Emilio Estevez, Harry Dean Stanton, Tracey Walter, Olivia Barash, Sy Richardson
- Overview:
- A down and out young punk gets a job working with a seasoned repo man, but what awaits him in his new career is a series of outlandish adventures revolving around aliens, the CIA, and a most wanted '64 Chevy.
Where to stream it
St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)
St. Elmo’s Fire is one of those movies that’s right on the cusp of generations. In 1985, Gen Xers (who chose to forgo college) were still getting their footing in the workforce. It would be another year until the first Gen X college grads joined them.
But the boomers had their “friends from college” moment just 2 years earlier in 1983’s The Big Chill. And while that movie showed how people and friendships have already changed, the gang in St. Elmo’s Fire are faced with such an inevitability just beginning.
It probably didn’t help that 3 of The Breakfast Club serving high school detention in February were suddenly recent Georgetown grads hanging out St. Elmo’s Bar in June, but a lot can happen in a semester. At least in those days.
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
- Genre:
- Drama, Romance, Comedy
- Director:
- Joel Schumacher
- Main Cast:
- Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson
- Overview:
- A group of friends graduates from the halls of Georgetown University into lives that revolve around sex and career aspirations. Kirby waits tables to pay for law school. His roommate Kevin struggles at a D.C. newspaper as he searches for the meaning of love. Jules may be an object of adoration and envy, but secretly she has problems of her own. Demure Wendy is in love with Billy—a loveable sax player and an irresponsible drunk. Alec wants it all: a career in politics and the appearance of a traditional home life. Alec’s girlfriend, Leslie, is an ambitious architect who doesn't know about his infidelity, but his new allegiance to the Republican Party is already enough to put her off marriage.
Where to stream it
Weird Science (1985)
The 80s gave birth to the Hero Nerd with a slew of geek protagonists in Hollywood. From Revenge of the Nerds to The Goonies to The Breakfast Club, the nerd was finally getting his due. One could even argue that Indiana Jones fits the bill.
But like WarGames above, Weird Science is often missing from those wonderful Gen X movie lists.
While “Breakfast Club” comrades Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, and Ally Sheedy quickly graduated college together in June (in St. Elmo’s Fire), Anthony Michael Hall got held back and returned to Shermer High. (Albeit he was now enrolled as Gary Wallace.)
Mocked by jocks for being unable to find girlfriends of their own, Gary and Wyatt do what any nerd geniuses would do—they use a computer to create a woman. Yep, a real live woman, who’s not only beautiful and brilliant, she has super powers.
It has the standard coming-of-age themes of fitting-in and self-exploration, which were staples for John Hughes. And while Weird Science usually doesn’t even crack most John Hughes Top 10 lists, it’s one of only 8 films that the uber-prolific screenwriter and iconic filmmaker directed.
Weird Science (1985)
- Genre:
- Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Director:
- John Hughes
- Main Cast:
- Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Bill Paxton, Suzanne Snyder
- Overview:
- Two unpopular teenagers, Gary and Wyatt, fail at all attempts to be accepted by their peers. Their desperation to be liked leads them to "create" a woman via their computer. Their living and breathing creation is a gorgeous woman, Lisa, whose purpose is to boost their confidence level by putting them into situations which require Gary and Wyatt to act like men.
Where to stream it
River’s Edge (1986)
Starring Gen X indie darlings Crispin Glover and Ione Skye—as well as the iconic Dennis Hopper—the teen crime drama was one of the first movies to feature a little-known Canadian actor named Keanu.
River’s Edge follows a group of teens trying to cope when one of them kills his girlfriend and dumps her body by—you guessed it—the river’s edge.
Then he shows them.
Based on a true story, it was the darkest teen film of the decade—if not to date—and perhaps defines Gen X teenhood better than any other movie out there. It cuts a stark divide between the generations, with elders questioning whether their offspring have no sense of morals.
Remaining true to the edginess of the indie film ethos—at least back then—the soundtrack includes a bunch of Slayer tunes and tracks by Fates Warning, Agent Orange, and PNW punk vanguards The Wipers.
From heavy metal and video games, to drugs and alcohol, to violence—it’s got all the things in a Gen X teen’s life. A little rougher than those squeaky clean John Hughes teenage dilemmas (which we’ll get to next).
River's Edge (1986)
- Genre:
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Director:
- Tim Hunter
- Main Cast:
- Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Roxana Zal, Daniel Roebuck
- Overview:
- A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.
Where to stream it
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Written and produced by John Hughes, King of the 80s Teen Movie, Some Kind of Wonderful was one of the least successful and is one of the most overlooked.
But even though it lives in the shadows of Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club, that doesn’t mean it’s a lesser film. Janet Maslin at The New York Times even called it a better “recycled version of… Pretty in Pink.”
Some Kind of Wonderful has all the earmarks of a Gen X classic—greed and desires vs. needs, class struggle, and the belief that all roads must lead to college, lest ye be damned to eternal poverty.
From her drumsticks and fingerless red leather gloves to her short 2-toned hair, Mary Stuart Masterson’s tomboy Watts has that edgy alternative It Girl vibe that sent 80s hearts aflutter.
Top it all off with another killer soundtrack, with the likes of Flesh for Lulu, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The March Violets singing “Miss Amanda Jones”. It’s a quintessential, but often overlooked, Gen X classic.
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
- Genre:
- Drama, Romance
- Director:
- Howard Deutch
- Main Cast:
- Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Lea Thompson, Chynna Phillips, Craig Sheffer
- Overview:
- A young tomboy, Watts, finds her feelings for her best friend, Keith, run deeper than just friendship when he gets a date with the most popular girl in school.
Where to stream it
My Own Private Idaho (1990)
Four years after making his mark in the aforementioned River’s Edge, Keanu Reeves once again turned heads in Hollywood. And the movie stands as one of the definitive queer films of Generation X.
Like Gus Van Sant’s previous film, Drugstore Cowboy—which would be listed here if it wasn’t a period piece taking place in 1971—My Own Private Idaho is set in the Pacific Northwest.
Living on the fringes of society, Reeves and real-life friend River Phoenix portray gay hustlers, Scott and Mike, in what’s been coined Gen X’s Midnight Cowboy.
Loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Henry” plays, the 2 friends embark on a journey of self-discovery as they wait for Scott to inherit a fortune when his dad kicks the bucket.
The tragic slacker is a quintessential Gen X archetype and My Own Own Private Idaho helped fuel the indie boom at the start of the new decade.
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
- Genre:
- Drama
- Director:
- Gus Van Sant
- Main Cast:
- River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo, William Richert, Rodney Harvey
- Overview:
- In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
Where to stream it
Swingers (1996)
An homage to guy comedies and ode to male bonding, Swingers was peak Gen X (straight-male) guydom for the waning years of the 20th Century. The movie version of the How To Be Cool Handbook, imitated more than The Fonz in the 70s and quoted more than the Bible at a Utah summer camp.
For the first time in 40 years, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were popular with twentysomething men. And not ironically.
Cigars, fedoras, and bowling shirts were everywhere. Again, unironically.
But even if that sounds cringe to a 2020s Tik Tok World, Swingers had heart. Those cool guys actually talked about their feelings. They shared. It’s basically the male film version of Sex and the City.
Swingers admittedly makes it onto plenty of Gen X movie lists, but it’s overlooked often enough to make this one too.
Swingers (1996)
- Genre:
- Comedy, Drama
- Director:
- Doug Liman
- Main Cast:
- Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, Alex Désert
- Overview:
- After 6 years together, Mike's girlfriend leaves him, so he travels to LA to be a star. Six months on, he's still not doing very well— so a few of his friends try to reconnect him to the social scene and hopefully help him forget his failed relationship.
Where to stream it
Go (1999)
On the cusp of turn of the century, the oldest Gen Xers were already in the workforce, while the youngest were either off to college or… wherever you go when you don’t go to college.
For high school dropout Ronna—played by Sarah Polley, back when she was an actress and not an Oscar-winning screenwriter—that’s working as a supermarket cashier.
And facing eviction.
To solve her financial woes, she heads to a rave to sell 20 tabs of ecstasy to a couple of soap opera stars, played by Gen X heartthrobs Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr. (If early Gen X was all about the weed and acid, and the middle was about the coke, late-Gen X was all about the E.)
For extra Gen Xiness, Katie Holmes plays coworker Claire in support of Ronna’s quest to sell drugs and keep her apartment.
Go is so full of slackers, hopelessness, and ecstasy, it could be a Gen X bumper sticker. But in a sea of post-Pulp Fiction multi-perspective, non-linear films, it was underappreciated and easily overlooked.
And it evidently still is, seeing as it doesn’t make most Gen X movie lists.
Go (1999)
- Genre:
- Crime, Comedy, Thriller
- Director:
- Doug Liman
- Main Cast:
- Sarah Polley, Timothy Olyphant, Katie Holmes, Desmond Askew, Jay Mohr
- Overview:
- A supermarket clerk decides to step in for an absent drug dealer, setting off an explosive, comedic chain of events.
Where to stream it
👀 CHECK IT OUT
Final thoughts
The above list of the most overlooked Gen X movies is far from exhaustive. And some of the entries are undoubtedly contentious. (What isn’t?) If you have a favorite Gen X movie that you think is underrated or underappreciated drop it off like a Blockbuster rental in the comments below.
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