The Best And Worst Teen Movies Of The 2000s

There's something about teen movies of the 2000s that everyone can relate to, no matter how old you are. When you're actually a teenager, those movies can feel like they directly apply to your life. When you're older, it's fun to rewatch them and relive the good old days. In short, teen movies in general are for everyone, and they never really go out of style. Just look at the success Netflix has had with To All The Boys I've Loved Before. 

But the 2000s were probably the best time for teen movies. Even the bad 2000s teen movies were so bad they were good and seriously entertaining to watch. The teen movies of that decade were simply iconic, and looking back on them can be nostalgic in the absolute best way. That said, there were a few teen movies from the 2000s that could only be described as the worst, and then there were some that were the best.

There is absolutely no shame in admitting that you loved the Olsen twins when you were younger. How could you not? They were adorable and funny, and they had a great film collection to their name. Each movie they made — from Passport to Paris to Holiday in the Sun — was cheesy, funny, and straight-up entertaining. However, there was one Mary-Kate and Ashley movie that was a total flop. That movie is New York Minute. 

The 2004 film follows the twins, good girl Jane and her edgy sister, Roxy, as they go on a grand adventure in New York City, for two very different reasons. Honestly, the movie is ridiculous, and the reviews prove it. "Admittedly, in all this stupidity there are a couple of laugh out loud moments, but these do not make up for the fact that mediocrity is a poor replacement for talent and comic timing," one critic wrote on The List. And they're not wrong. 

Poor Aquamarine. The film is really not that good at all. The 2006 movie is about two best friends, played by actress Emma Roberts and singer Joanna "JoJo" Levesque, who discover a mermaid one morning after a storm blew into their beach town. Yes, a mermaid. With a tail and everything. 

Of course, the movie, which features Sara Paxton as the titular mermaid, is full of the typical teenage drama and angst. There's a town hottie, a group of mean girls, and an overprotective father who just so happens to be able to create storms at sea. Normal stuff. 

Sure, the movie is entertaining, but at what cost? One BBC critic wrote, "For supervising grownups, its giddy leanings will induce seasickness." It might not be worth your time, but Aquamarine was definitely an interesting teen movie from the 2000s.

While Lindsay Lohan may be talented and her work in Mean Girls top-notch, the same can't be said for the often-forgotten Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. The 2004 movie centers on Lohan's character, Lola, as she adjusts to life at a new high school after her mom moved the family out of New York City. As the title would suggest, Lola is a bit of a drama queen, and all of her antics are way over the top. 

Basically, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is a poor woman's version of Mean Girls, and it's really not worth the watch if you haven't seen it yet. There is legitimately a scene in which Lola fantasizes that she's Marilyn Monroe. Yep. A critic from The Washington Post called it "a movie that — even by Disney's formulaic standards — is about as cut and dried as the phone book," and that's pretty spot-on. 

Back in 2002, Britney Spears reigned supreme, and so it was only natural that she would star in a teenage road trip flick, complete with a dive-bar karaoke scene. To be fair, Crossroads could have been a great movie, and the karaoke scene is still iconic. However, the 2002 movie has some pretty big issues. It starts as a light chick flick about three old friends, Lucy, Kit, and Mimi, reuniting to take a cross-country road trip. That soon changes as they head to Los Angeles with one of the girls, Mimi, five months pregnant. 

While Crossroads does have great moments of female friendship and empowerment, it's also kind of depressing. It's revealed that Mimi was assaulted by Kit's boyfriend and, right after, she falls down the stairs and suffers a miscarriage. It's super dark, and, because of the ridiculousness of the movie, it was even featured on an episode of the How Did This Get Made? podcast. 

One reviewer wrote on USA Today, "Oops, she's really done it this time. That chirpy songbird Britney Spears has popped up with more mindless drivel." Basically, it's a flop. 

It's no secret that Amanda Bynes was one of the great treasures of 2000s teen movies and TV shows. The actress is hilarious in anything she's in, and she's great at character work. Unfortunately, her 2003 movie What a Girl Wants wasn't really deserving of Bynes' talent. Even though Bynes is great in the movie, the plot and a few of the characters aren't on par. 

In the film, Bynes plays Daphne Reynolds, a teenage girl who is obsessed with a father she's never met. So, one day, she gets up the courage to go to London and find him, but, when she arrives, she learns her father isn't just a lord — he's also running for Parliament and is engaged to another woman who has her own teenage daughter. 

Unfortunately, the movie is just not interesting, and it's full of ridiculous moments. According to one review in The Wall Street Journal, "What a Girl Wants plays like a TV cartoon, not even a sitcom, and makes little sense on its own terms." In short, it's just plain bad. 

Emma Roberts is a talented actress, and she has been a staple in Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story franchise. But before she really made it big, she starred in a few 2000s teen movies that were less than fantastic. In Wild Child, Roberts played spoiled rich girl Poppy, who is sent to a British boarding school after her father has had enough of her antics. The 2008 movie clearly didn't have a huge budget, but the film is one of the worst 2000s teen movies for other reasons. 

Featuring stereotypical teen movie scenes with mean girls spouting lame insults and girls crushing on someone totally off-limits, Wild Child isn't very wild at all. In fact, it's almost boring. Which is just what one review in the Independent pointed out. "Gouging one's eyeballs with a chopstick would be more fun than watching this crummy tween comedy about a Californian princess..." the review stated. As talented as Roberts is, Wild Child isn't her best work. 

As iconic and incredible as Hilary Duff is, her 2005 movie The Perfect Man was a total snooze fest. The film has a talented cast, including Duff, Heather Locklear, Chris Noth, and Caroline Rhea, but that doesn't mean it's a good movie. Duff plays Holly Hamilton, an angsty teenager who is sick of her mom's bad luck with men constantly meaning they're on the move. So, when they move again, Holly decides to do something about it and make up the perfect man for her mom. 

Holly creates a fake man who sends her mother flowers, love letters, and more in an attempt to show her mom how much better she can do than the losers she usually dates. Naturally, Holly finds herself in a tough spot when her lie begins to unravel, and, unfortunately, it's just not that interesting to watch. One reviewer from BBC noted, "Everything bad about teen chick flicks is encapsulated in The Perfect Man." 

There are plenty of great Hilary Duff movies to watch, but The Perfect Man isn't one of them.