Top 20 Saddest Teen Movie Endings

Top 20 Saddest Teen Movie Endings

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Saddest Teen Movie Endings.

For this list, we’ll be looking at those teen flicks that had us tearing up as the credits rolled. We’re focusing on movies with teen characters and/or coming-of-age teen movies, which means big epic, action romances won’t count this time. Also, it says “endings” right in the title, so yes, there will be plenty of spoilers.

When you stop crying, please leave us a comment below.

#20: “Keith” (2008)

Natalie is the beautiful, popular girl in high school and her new lab partner is Keith - an annoying guy who doesn’t care what anyone thinks. Obviously, they fall in love, but while that would make you happy-cry, Keith’s secret is what will have those sad tears running down your face. Keith has cancer and although these two want to spend the rest of their lives together, the rest of Keith’s life isn’t going to last much longer. However, the connection they shared was so important to Nathalie that we see, in the film’s coda, her life path has changed to honor the boy who meant so much to her.

#19: “Cruel Intentions” (1999)

“Cruel Intentions” is a modern adaptation of the 1782 French novel, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” featuring rich high school teens in New York City. The titular unkind intentions belong to step-siblings Kathryn and Sebastian who place a wager on Sebastian's ability to seduce the headmaster’s virgin daughter, Annette. Sebastian succeeds but not before falling in love with her, which leads Kathryn to joyfully manipulate her step-brother into breaking up with her. This dark story brings Sebastian and Annette together in the end, but only to see Sebastian hit by a car as he pushes his true love to safety. Kathryn gets her comeuppance in the final scene, but Sebastian’s death means this isn’t a happy ending.

#18: “Now Is Good” (2012)

While the film's title might seem to imply a happy ending, this 2012 romantic drama starring Dakota Fanning is based on the novel, “Before I Die,” which hits the sadness a little more directly. Fanning plays Tessa, a seventeen-year-old girl with terminal acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a secret bucket list, who falls in love with her new neighbor Adam. We’re sure you know where this is going. But knowing doesn’t make it any less sad when Tessa’s cancer eventually takes her from this earth as she lies peacefully in Adam's arms.

#17: “Boyz n the Hood” (1991)

The film is a coming-of-age drama set in the L.A. hood in the 80s and 90s when gang violence was at its peak. The film was John Singleton’s directorial debut and made him the youngest, and the first African-American to receive a Best Director Oscar nomination. The film’s main protagonist is Tre, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., who goes to live with his dad in South Central L.A. The film is a hard and real look at gangs, race, and violence and while Tre makes it out alive, many of his friends do not. And although they seem to accept that as a consequence of a life they chose, it doesn’t make it any less sad to see it play out.

#16: “Before I Fall” (2017)

“Before I Fall” is a teen drama with a time-loop twist. Think a much sadder “Groundhog Day.” Our hero is Samantha, who, one night with her friends, gets into a car accident and wakes up in a time loop reliving the day over and over again. As she begins each day anew she uses the opportunity to make some amends, fall in love, and learn the truth about the accident. She eventually realizes that the initial car accident occurred when the vehicle hit a girl, Juliet, who she has become friends with. However, reminiscent of Sebastian in “Cruel Intentions,” who saves the girl but in turn gets hit by a car, Samantha dies after saving Juliet from the oncoming traffic.

#15: “The Outsiders” (1983)

“The Outsiders” is a 1983 film directed by the great Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1967 novel of the same name by S.E. Hinton. Although the films take place in very different times and places, there are some similarities to “Boyz n the Hood.” Both films are dark coming-of-age stories centered around kids and gangs and the cycle of violence that they bring. Like “Boyz n the Hood”, Coppola’s film sees multiple characters shot and die as the movie reaches its conclusion. It does end with a glimmer of hope for the future, but only because of all the sadness that brought us there.

#14: “All the Bright Places” (2020)

If you’ve just watched “Now Is Good,” why not check out another tear-jerker with a Fanning sister? The younger Elle Fanning plays Violet Markey in this Netflix movie, a girl dealing with Survivor Guilt over the death of her sister in a car accident less than a year ago. Her love interest is Finch, a loner with a dark family secret. While they are good for each other, Finch's past and his emotional scars are too much to bear and lead to his death in one of the final scenes. Leaving Violet with just her memories and the lessons he taught her during their too-short time together.

#13: “Dead Poets Society” (1989)

The story of an English teacher, John Keating, at a conservative prep school in 1959 whose methods inspire the kids to make their lives extraordinary. The problem is that the kid’s parents and the traditional school don’t feel the same way about this new teacher and his ways. In the end, it is the elite traditions and beliefs that win out, leading to a student dying and Keating being fired. However, through that sadness there is hope. "O Captain! My Captain!" Words that surely bring a tear to the eye of almost anyone who has seen the end of the film. And it even probably has a few of you standing on your desks as we speak.

#12: “My Girl” (1991)

This coming-of-age film focuses on the lives and friendship between pre-teens Thomas J. Sennett and Vada Sultenfuss. In 1990, “Home Alone” made Macaulay Culkin a star and in 1991, he starred in “My Girl.” However, while in the former he was able to outsmart a couple of thieves all by himself, in “My Girl,” he isn’t able to overcome his allergy to bees. And it is this allergy that results in his death one day as he attempts to retrieve Vada’s lost mood ring. It’s an incredibly sad moment, but as with many other such moments, this sadness opens people up to each other and helps to heal other relationships. So, you will smile at the end, albeit with tears running down your cheeks.

#11: “Midnight Sun” (2018)

Katie and Charlie fall in love, but Katie has a rare condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum, which forbids her from being exposed to direct sunlight. You see where this one is going right? Yes, Katie dies, but not before experiencing one last moment of joy and happiness. She convinces her dad to let her go out during the day and in her final moments, she goes sailing with Charlie and feels the sunlight on her skin. Going out on her terms, with the boy she loves. If you’re not crying yet, you will be soon.

#10: “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012)

Based on the beloved YA novel by Stephen Chbosky, who also wrote and directed this film adaptation, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a movie that deals with heavy topics like teenage depression and mental illness. In a twist near the end of the film, however, we find out that the main character, Charlie, was abused by his aunt when he was a child and that he blames himself for her sudden death. This revelation causes him to have a mental breakdown, and while he does eventually return home, there is a bittersweet sadness to the conclusion of the story.

#9: “The Maze Runner” (2014)

For the duration of the story told in “The Maze Runner,” the main character has no memory of his life before he arrived in the “Glade.” It’s only at the end of the movie that we find out what brought all of these young people together. It turns out that a solar flare occurred, causing widespread devastation on Earth, and killing many. Even worse, in the aftermath of the natural disaster, a pandemic that was dubbed “the Flare” killed many more. Thomas and the others learn they were part of an experiment - and that it’s not over yet.

#8: “If I Stay” (2014)

This heartbreaking movie, based on the 2009 novel, tells the story of Mia, a young girl who gets into a disastrous car accident, which kills her family and leaves her with life-threatening injuries. We see much of the story take place in flashbacks, as Mia is forced to decide whether she’ll stay on Earth or join her family in the afterlife. It’s a bleak premise, and the ending is pretty soul-crushing until the very moment that she opens her eyes, letting the audience know that she has finally made the decision to stay.

#7: “Call Me by Your Name” (2017)

“Call Me by Your Name” isn’t your typical teen romance movie, largely because only one of the members of the central couple is a teenager. This touching story follows young Elio who is spending the summer in Italy with his family when he meets the 24-year-old grad student, Oliver, and the two fall in love. This relationship had a lot working against it and the audience knew it was doomed to end in heartbreak, but the final scene after Oliver goes home where Elio just stares into the fire crying is nearly impossible to watch.

#6: “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” (2015)

Sometimes, you know from the title of a movie that it isn’t going to have a happy ending, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” ends with Rachel dying, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, as we know that she has leukemia. But watching Greg show up at the hospital and give her a private screening of the film he made left us all choked up, and the following scenes at her funeral and hearing about the letter she wrote to his college is almost too much to handle.

#5: “Bridge to Terabithia” (2007)

The novel “Bridge to Terabithia” was published in the ‘70s, so many people already know about the heartbreaking event that takes place near the end of the story, but it’s still terrible to watch in the movie version, which stars a young Josh Hutcherson as Jess. Jess and his friend Leslie create an imaginary world together, but this is no simple fantasy story. Seemingly out of nowhere, Jess gets the news that Leslie has been killed in an accident when the rope swing that they used together broke and she drowned in the creek. Jess’ disbelief and grief force him to grow up fast, and it makes us wish the innocence of childhood could last forever.

#4: “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014)

In a movie about two teens living with cancer, you can probably guess that the ending won’t be a happy one. Hazel and Augustus meet at a cancer support group, and throughout their relationship, Gus seems relatively healthy whereas Hazel undergoes numerous health scares. The viewer is left assuming that she will die, leaving him behind, but in the end, the opposite takes place, with his health rapidly deteriorating. The final scene involves Hazel reading the eulogy that Gus wrote for her and trust us when we say that there’s no way you can finish this movie without tears in your eyes.

#3: “Five Feet Apart” (2019)

If you’re looking for the next “The Fault in Our Stars,” look no further than “Five Feet Apart,” released in 2019. Following the formula of “sick teens fall in love,” this story is about Stella and Will, two young people living with cystic fibrosis. The two can’t be physically close to each other because of the risk of cross-infection. Their relationship is one filled with risks, but in the end, Stella begins to get healthier while Will realizes that his days are numbered. In the final scene, he asks her not to look at him so that he can walk away and prevent her from mourning his eventual death.

#2: “Romeo + Juliet” (1996)

For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo. One of the saddest teen movie endings is also one of the most tragic endings in the history of fiction. William Shakespeare’s beloved tragic play “Romeo and Juliet” is known for the heartbreaking ending in which the two young lovers both take their own lives, thinking that the other is dead. In Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version, it’s made even more devastating by the fact that Juliet actually wakes up as Romeo is taking the poison and he sees her, realizing the mistake he has made.

#1: “A Walk to Remember” (2002)

We didn’t realize just how many movies there are about teenagers with cancer! One of the original examples is 2002’s “A Walk to Remember,” starring Mandy Moore. Jamie and Landon seem to have nothing in common - he’s a bad boy and she’s the minister’s daughter. When they’re forced to work together, she hides the fact that she’s dying of leukemia from him. In the end, they get married before she succumbs to her illness, and while all of that makes us grab for our tissues, it’s Landon’s speech about Jamie that has us sobbing uncontrollably.