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Family Movies in the Teen Years

One of our favorite family activities are movie nights. When we bought our home in Nebraska, the room that sealed the deal was the theater room.

When they were younger, they’d watch anything we put on. We did lots of christian movies, the really cheesy ones even, and they loved them. However, once they are teens, those movies don’t fly. It’s so hard to find movies the entire family can enjoy equally.

Recently, we’ve watched 5 movies as a family that we all really liked. Definitely these suggestions are not intended if you have young children. Our youngest is a month away from 13, and all these movies are PG-13. Also there may be some language, so be aware of that. I can’t tolerate much language, but it’s almost impossible to find movies with zero.

Each of the movies I’m sharing were suggested by our teens that already watched them with friends.

5 Movies to watch with teens on family movie night

  • Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio

“A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.”

This was a really great movie. My family followed it better than I did. It’s super confusing. I can’t follow the Bourne movies, and this had that feel to me with lots of complication and fast paced action. I don’t typically like Sci-Fi but enjoyed this one.

  • Knives Out

“A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.”

Definitely kept you trying to solve. No humor, but not scary. Just a classic mystery, which I totally appreciate. Also very little language. Just a few words.

  • Murder Mystery with Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler

“New York cop and his wife go on a European vacation to reinvigorate the spark in their marriage, but end up getting framed and on the run for the death of an elderly billionaire.”

What an underrated movie. A big cast, a fun plot, some definite laughs. And obviously a murder to solve.

  • A Quiet Place with John Krazinski and Emily Blunt

“In a post-apocalyptic world, a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing.”

I never watch scary movies. And anything in the horror genre I’m out on. While this is classified as horror, it is no more horror than Gremlins, but without the cheesy humor. It’s incredibly suspenseful and a few jump scares. No bad language. Actually not much language of any kind as they are mostly silent.

I can’t give anything away in this movie, but if you follow me on IG or FB, you saw my spoiler alert. I made a very strong Jesus correlation in this movie that brought me to tears.

  • A Quiet Place 2

“Following the events at home, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path.”

We enjoyed part 1 so much, we watched part 2 the following night. Again very suspenseful and not realistic, but well done and easy to enjoy with our teens.

Go make some popcorn, grab some candy, and cozy up with your teens! Happy watching!