Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Graduating from college could be one of those life events that are simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. Like bungee-jumping, a commencement is something to celebrate as much as it is something to fear. Suddenly, you’re dropped into the Real World and are forced to deal with Real Responsibilities — finding a job, paying your rent, acknowledging your student loans exist. Luckily, most of us don’t to go through it alone, because we’ve got characters in these ten films who can serve as role models — or as cautionary figures.
'Post Grad' (2008)
Bummed you never got to watch Rory Gilmore enter the Real World? Well, here’s the best we can offer you. Alexis Bledel stars as recent graduate Ryden, whose dreams of becoming an editor at a publishing company seems distant when she realizes she’s just one fish in a very large pond. [Where to stream Post Grad]
'The Last Days of Disco' (1998)
Whit Stillman’s ode to the end of the disco era is also secretly a post-college tale shows was typically happens to groups of people after they move to a city together after graduation: they realize they can’t stand each other, yet they don’t know how to make new friends. Frenemies Alice (Chloe Sevigney) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) are coworkers and roommates, desperately trying to stay afloat in New York City while also looking for companionship at night — all set to a thumping disco soundtrack. [Where to stream The Last Days of Disco]
'The Motorcycle Diaries' (2004)
Years before he became the world-renown revolutionary, Che Gruevara was a medical student, a semester before his graduation, dropped everything and joined his friend Alberto Granado on a motorcycle journey across South America. The Motorcycle Diaries, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal as the young Guevara, follows the two young men from Buenos Aires to Chile, Peur, and Venezuela as their perspectives expand and their worldview is indelibly changed. [Where to stream The Motorcycle Diaries]
'Into the Wild' (2007)
Emile Hirsch plays Christopher McCandless, made famous by Jon Kraukauer’s book about his solo venture into the Alaska after his graduation from Emory University in a pursuit for a solitary, simple life in the wilderness. Sean Penn’s film also stars Kristen Stewart, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden, Zach Galifianakis, and Oscar-nominee Hal Holbrook. [Where to stream Into the Wild]
'Adventureland' (2009)
Oberlin grad James returns to Pittsburg, his dreams of a European summer vacation dashed when his parents tell him there’s no money for his trip. So he does what anyone with a Classics degree does: he gets a menial job running games at his local amusement park, Adventureland. But that’s also where he meets the people who save the summer of 1987 from total ruin. [Where to stream Adventureland]
'Tiny Furniture' (2010)
What do you do when you graduate from a liberal arts school and realize that the only real experience you have is making funny, semi-nude web videos? If you’re Lena Dunham, you make a movie about someone graduating from a liberal arts school who realizes the only real experience she has is making funny, semi-nude web videos. If you’re Tiny Furniture‘s Aurora, you move back into your family home with your mom and sister (played by Dunham’s real-life mom and sister) and figure out how to navigate the murky waters of post-college adulthood. [Where to stream Tiny Furniture]
'St. Elmo's Fire' (1985)
The Brat Pack graduates from college! Seven friends graduate from Georgetown and disperse into the real world, keeping their relationships intact as they find jobs, find partners, and find that young adulthood isn’t the vacation they expected it to be. [Where to stream St. Elmo’s Fire]
'Kicking and Screaming' (1995)
Noah Baumbach’s directorial debut is like many of his movies: featuring characters going through roughly what he, himself, is going through (or at least has gone through at some point). It’s a perfect comedy with biting dialogue and pitch-perfect performances from the likes of Josh Hamilton, Chris Eigeman, and Parker Posey, and a hilarious take on the stunted emotional growth of a group of friends who can’t quite move on from college. [Where to stream Kicking and Screaming]
'Reality Bites' (1993)
Winona Ryder stars is this Generation X romantic comedy directed by (and co-starring) Ben Stiller. When valedictorian Lelaina Pierce gets fired from her crappy entry-level job as a production assistant, she struggles to find work in her field why also trying to complete a documentary about her generation. Meanwhile, she finds herself ensnared in a love triangle between the successful and dim Michael and the creative but unambitious Troy. [Where to stream Reality Bites]
'The Graduate' (1967)
Mike Nichols’ classic dark comedy (for which he won his first Oscar) set the tone for the post-grad films that came after it. Benjamin Braddock, a listless twenty-something, begins an affair with an older woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), who is the married friend of Braddock’s parents. It’s all light-hearted fun and games until he meets — and falls for — his lover’s daughter, Elaine. [Where to stream The Graduate]
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