The best all-girl coming-of-age movies, rated by cry factor

This movie, about a (you guessed it) 13-year-old, is basically every parent's nightmare. It follows Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a middle school teen who befriends a troubled classmate and gets into...everything. It's an indie flick of the very dark variety, and captures the much more serious side of adolescent experimenting. If your childhood was a happy one, Thirteen is probably interesting, but if it wasn't, it's most definitely a trigger. —Seija Rankin

Cry Factor: 😭😭

Greta Gerwig's coming-of-age dramedy perfectly taps into the highs and lows that come with desperately wanting to find oneself, being on the brink of young adulthood, and the complicated beauty of the mother-daughter relationship. Whether it's the separation anxiety Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) gets from leaving her friends as they go away to college, or her desire to live creatively in a romanticized version of the East Coast, the film feels like an honest snapshot of one of the most exhilarating and terrifying moments in a young woman's life. —Aja Hoggatt

Cry Factor: 😭😭😭

The hyper-specific locale of the Los Angeles suburb Baldwin Hills, a.k.a the Black Beverly Hills, adds an extra layer of authenticity by highlighting a real neighborhood that is home to Black prosperity — something rarely depicted onscreen. With that backdrop, the film is able to be, simply, a girl-next-door love story between two basketball players (Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps) who pursue their dreams (and each other) from childhood to adulthood. Watching their love story play out is at times angsty, at times heartbreaking, and altogether inevitable. —A.H.

Cry Factor: 😭

If you went to a slumber party between the years 1995 and 2005, chances are, this movie informed the night's activities (#seance). Before women sat around at brunch debating who was a Samantha or a Miranda, they were tweens who were a Chrissy (Ashleigh Aston Moore), a Teeny (Thora Birch), a Sam (Gaby Hoffmann), or a Roberta (Christina Ricci). It's a kids' movie, but the characters tackle all sorts of adult (and tragic) topics. —S.R.

Cry Factor: 😭😭😭

This movie is about Vada (Anna Chlumsky), the daughter of a widowed funeral director (who also happens to have hypochondria), who faces all the struggles of growing up, from a first crush to a first period. But the movie's central tragedy is all about Thomas J. (Macaulay Culkin). We won't spoil anything in case there is anyone left in the world who doesn't know the ending, but trust that tears will be shed. —S.R.

Cry Factor: 😭😭😭😭

Parts of John Hughes' comedy classic haven't aged well — looking at you, Long Duk Dong — but the story of Sam Baker (Molly Ringwald) and her forgotten birthday stands as one of the director's most iconic coming-of-age tales. Being a teenage girl means feeling invisible, and, more often than not, like you're the only sane person in a crazy world — a feeling that Sixteen Candles captures perfectly. It's more slapstick comedy than emotional cry-fest, but Sam's heart-to-heart with her dad about unrequited love is one of the most touching, realistic father-daughter scenes in film history. —Devan Coggan

Cry Factor: 😭😭

The sorry tale of the Lisbon sisters is the ultimate in teenage tragedy. Sofia Coppola masterfully adapted Jeffrey Eugenides' novel, which follows the five sisters as they struggle to find themselves among suffocating parents, new relationships, and the stifling expectations of '70s suburbia. —D.C.

Cry Factor: 😭😭😭😭

Juno introduced us not only to Diablo Cody and the world's hippest soundtrack, but also to a character who was tough, funny, and vulnerable all at once. While people may remember the movie more for its quirky teen dialogue than its emotional impact, don't tell us you didn't tear up seeing the note Juno (Elliot Page) left for Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) framed above the crib. —Dana Schwartz

Cry factor: 😭😭

The year is 1973, the setting is Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and our hero is a 9-year-old girl named Troy (Zelda Harris). This Spike Lee joint depicts not only the life of its main character but the vibe of an entire neighborhood — tragedies and joys combined. The Carmichael family's fate takes a turn, but the perfectly-curated soundtrack and sets keep things from getting too dark. —S.R.

Cry Factor: 😭😭 

Kelly Fremon Craig's dark comedy is one of the most realistic depictions of what it's like to grow up as a 21st-century high schooler. Hailee Steinfeld imbues the teenage outcast Nadine with a sardonic spikiness, whether she's trading insults with a teacher (Woody Harrelson) or talking graphically about sex. But underneath all that sarcasm is a squishy heart, as Nadine learns to come to terms with her insecurities. —D.C.

Cry Factor: 😭

A pair of magical pants that deepens the bond between a group of four best friends? That's exactly what you get when you watch this coming-of-age drama. The personalities and struggles of each friend — Carmen (America Ferrera), Bridget (Blake Lively), Lena (Alexis Bledel), and Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) — could not be more different, but there is not a single one that doesn't connect with the audience. Watching Bridget lose her virginity prematurely or Lena break down her walls and experience first love, there is a subtle honesty that is rarely seen in a studio film featuring a cast of teenage girls. Carmen's relationship with her father is more complicated than most, as the two figure out how to exist in each other's lives after time apart and new additions to the fragile family. The audience can truly feel her anger and frustration and later acceptance of this new dynamic, while Tibby learns about true loss. Whereas some films attempt to give viewers one-dimensional, drastically different characters in hopes you will be able to relate to one, viewers can sympathize with parts of each member of the sisterhood. —A.H.

Cry Factor: 😭

Lara Jean (Lana Condor) is a wallflower type who just so happens to have it bad for her older sister's boyfriend. She's written secret letters to him to declare her feelings, and her younger sister takes things into her own hands and (gulp) sends them. This movie is about high school crushes on the surface but delves into the pain of young love that we all know too well. —S.R.

Cry Factor: 😭

The story of the March sisters isn't a new one, but director Greta Gerwig's interpretation of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel feels at once classic and outrageously timely. Just because you've read (and watched) the heartache her characters endure before, don't expect to be any less emotional over it. Jo (Saoirse Ronan) and Laurie's (Timothée Chalamet) drama will still hit you like a Mack truck.

Cry factor: 😭😭😭😭