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Cinematical *got a letter the other day from a reader named Brad G wondering about coming-of-age films. Specifically he and his friends were attempting to define a single film as *the *best representation of their generation, which he recognizes as part Generation Y, part “Apatow Generation.” The b*****ng of his age group with that filmmaker is interesting because Judd Apatow did make two great coming-of-age TV series (*Freaks and Geeks *and Undeclared) that would apply to Brad’s generation. Yet he also produced modern versions of the coming-of-age genre, like *The 40-Year-Old Virgin *and Step Brothers](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/step-brothers/27060/main?icid=movsmartsearch), which appropriate the genre for adults in arrested development.
For some reason, the last decade has been quite selfish in terms of the genre. In the past, coming-of-age movies were made by nostalgic filmmakers, which is why a lot of the greats of the genre (American Graf**fiti](American Graffiti (1973) - Movie | Moviefone), Dazed and Confused](Dazed and Confused (1993) - Movie | Moviefone), Stand by Me](Stand by Me (1986) - Movie | Moviefone)) are period works initially representing the previous generation, but could be applied to and adapted as a representation for the present generation. Or we had someone like John Hughes, who could tap into contemporary adolescence well enough to give Generation X representations like *Sixteen Candles *and The Breakfast Club](The Breakfast Club (1985) - Movie | Moviefone).
But now most coming-of-age movies are strictly for the generation making them. In addition to man-child movies like those mentioned above, there’s the genre I call homecoming-of-age films, which include twenty- and thirty-something characters going through a second (or late) coming of age after returning home for whatever reason (parent’s illness or death, financial reasons, etc.). Think of films like Garden State](Garden State (2004) - Movie | Moviefone), *Elizabethtown *and even the slightly qualifiable new film Greenberg](Greenberg (2010) - Movie | Moviefone). They’re mostly a product of the 2000s trend of people moving back in with their parents, a trend that introduced words like “adultolescent” into our culture. Then again, you could call *The Graduate *a homecoming-of-age film, and that was made decades ago. And the next generation also had post-college movies labeled coming-of-age, like *St. Elmo’s Fire *and Reality Bites](Reality Bites (1994) - Movie | Moviefone).
Continue reading What is This Generation’s Greatest Coming-of-Age Film?