The Best Movies to Watch If You Loved Do Revenge

Easy A (2010)

And here I thought that Emma Stone’s wry voiceover in this 2010 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter was the be-all, end-all for teen movie narration. Do Revenge gives it a neat twist with the dual voiceover and the late-stage Nora reveal, but don’t sleep on Olive Penderghast’s own cautionary tale of how a rumor will grow wings, teeth, and a mind of its own.

After a dumb lie morphs into a rumor that Olive lost her virginity, her reputation gets cemented as a “dirty skank.” When her gay friend asks her to pretend they had sex to protect him from getting bullied, Olive figures the damage has already been done. But as she gets branded with the metaphorical red A—and then actually sews one onto her newly corset-y wardrobe in an attempt to control the narrative—and more and more boys show up needing to hide behind her tattered honor, Olive learns just how many people she can hurt in the process.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

As adorable as it was for Drea and Russ to throw paint balloons at one another, Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) and Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) walked before these two could run. Not only does the Shakespeare-in-high-school haters-to-lovers classic have the sweetest paint splatter flirtation, but it also gives us the most ridiculous yet believable cliques, and an angry, earnest retelling of the Bard’s Taming of the Shrew. You don’t need 10 reasons to watch; the moment that soundtrack starts up, you’ll fall in love (either again or for the first time).

Cruel Intentions (1999)

How can we witness the return of teen movie/TV queen Sarah Michelle Gellar and not recommend her dark cult classic of teenagers plotting delicious revenge? Even for those of us who were used to watching SMG as Buffy Summers in the late ‘90s, her villainous turn as Kathryn Merteuil was provocative and powerful (and definitely awakened some feelings in female audiences); costars Ryan Phillippe, Selma Blair, and Reese Witherspoon rounded out this titillating foursome.

Plus, if you loved the schadenfreude of a coke-fueled Max getting his comeuppance at the end of Do Revenge, you’ll appreciate the scene it was no doubt paying homage to—you’ll know it once the opening chords of “Bittersweet Symphony” start.

Booksmart (2019)

While Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart is better described as “Superbad for girls,” you get the sense that chaotic nerdy besties Amy (Kaitllyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) could have barreled their way into the Admissions Party no problem. Afraid that making it to the Ivies means they sacrificed the quintessential high school experiences, the two set out to finally live it up before graduation—which involves bad trips, a cringingly disastrous lesbian hookup, and the most heartwrenching showdown at a house party that you will ever see in the teen genre.