The internet is going crazy for Do Revenge right now. At the time of writing, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s coming-of-age comedy is the second-biggest movie on Netflix, and an altogether larger topic of conversation in various quarters of social media.
Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, the film follows two students from wildly different social circles, Drea (Camila Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke), who form an unlikely alliance in a bid to take sweet revenge on the bullies who have ruined their lives.
We described Do Revenge as “Mean Girls for the Gen-Z crowd” in our review, and below, we’ve rounded up five more twisted teen dramas – many of which serve as direct inspirations for the new Netflix movie – to help you scratch that noughties itch just a little bit more.
Mean Girls (2004)
Let’s kick off with the obvious. If you enjoyed Do Revenge for its references to mid-noughties sleepover classics, then you've almost definitely already seen 2004’s Mean Girls – but hey, we couldn’t not include it on a list of similar movies, could we?
From the mind of comedy genius Tina Fey, Mark Waters’ genre-defining teen drama stars Lindsay Lohan as Cady, a naïve high school newbie whose popularity soars when she ingratiates herself with the Plastics, a clique of overprivileged and image-obsessed students led by Rachel McAdams’ Regina George.
Frequently hilarious and surprisingly (but saddeningly) accurate, Mean Girls is the definitive depiction of classroom cattiness, and Do Revenge tips its hat towards the former’s most iconic scenes on numerous occasions (take a look at this Instagram post for a handful of examples).
Mean Girls is currently streaming on Netflix in the US and Paramount Plus in the UK.
Easy A (2010)
The world has Easy A to thank for putting Oscar-winner Emma Stone on the map as one of Hollywood’s most gifted leading actors.
Partially inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, the movie stars Stone as Olive, an inconspicuous high school student whose well-intentioned lie about losing her virginity spirals out of control when others get wind of her fake bedroom antics.
Do Revenge shares clear similarities with Easy A’s setting and rumor-fueled premise, but both movies also feature well-written, multifaceted characters that aren’t always the clear-cut good guys we want them to be.
Easy A is currently streaming on fuboTV and Hulu Plus in the US, and Netflix in the UK.
The Other Woman (2014)
Okay, The Other Woman isn’t strictly a teen drama – but it’s nonetheless a movie in which revenge (in this case against a sleazy, three-timing man) plays a key role.
The film stars Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton as three women – Carly, Kate and Amber, respectively – who team up to take down Mark, played by Game of Thrones stalwart Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, a charismatic businessman secretly seeing all of them at once. Hormone pills, hair-removal cream and laxative-spiked water all form part of the trio’s Mean Girls-style plans, making The Other Woman – like Do Revenge – an incredibly satisfying tale of gruesome payback.
The Other Woman is currently streaming on HBO Max in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.
Clueless (1995)
Like Mean Girls, Clueless is a clear pillar of inspiration in Do Revenge – and not just because the school uniforms worn in the latter seem borrowed from the costume wardrobe of Amy Heckerling’s 1995 classic.
Loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma, Clueless stars Alicia Silverstone as Cher, a beautiful and popular high school student who begins to examine her own existence while playing matchmaker for a pair of hard-nosed teachers.
Sure, both movies look similar. But they also take comparable swipes at a very particular brand of pastel-colored high school fantasy – Vogue calls it the “bubblegum dreamworld” – by transposing their respective source material in a way that feels accessible.
Clueless is currently streaming on Netflix and Prime Video in the US, and Paramount Plus in the UK.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
10 Things I Hate About You isn’t so much a movie about revenge as it is an unlikely alliance.
Gil Junger’s 1999 comedy stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron, a young student who enlists the services of a mysterious bad boy (Heath Ledger) to help him date a popular girl (Larisa Oleynik) whose father won’t let her get a boyfriend unless her ill-tempered sister (Julia Stiles) gets one, too. The movie is essentially a modern-day reimagining of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, and is so named after a poem written by Kat (the sister) that describes her bittersweet romance with Patrick.
Sure, that synopsis doesn’t read much like that of Do Revenge – but 10 Things I Hate About You is likewise at its best when its seemingly polar opposite lead characters find comfort in their common ground.
10 Things I Hate About You is currently streaming on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.
