From the opening scene, it’s obvious that Juno isn’t like other teen comedies. Elliot Page’s wry commentary as the title character sets the tone for a unique tale about growing up. 1t1p2b

Like many teenagers, Juno (Page) is at odds with herself. In love with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), she is unable — or unwilling — to tell him. Instead, the two have spontaneous sex, resulting in an unplanned pregnancy. This event sets Juno on a course that teaches her about love, friendships, and what is important to her. While no films are a one-for-one comparison of this classic, there are many with similar tone and themes that fans should explore after watching Juno.

1. Jennifer’s Body (2009) – Hulu 2x1x6c

High school is never easy, especially when your best friend is a literal man-eating beast. Jennifer’s Body was wildly underappreciated at the box office when it premiered, but Diablo Cody’s follow-up to Juno should not be discounted. With equal parts gore and humor, the film is a feminist text about how society views women and the intricacies of female relationships. 

Jennifer (Megan Fox) may seem like a hateful demon, but it is only because society made her that way. Particularly when an indie rock band sacrifices her to Satan for a shot at fame. Or so they think. Turning into a succubus, she starts eating her way through the boys in town. The irony featured in the film is a horror spin on Juno and remains a cult classic.

2. Easy A (2010) – Amazon Prime 2173h

Following the success of Superbad, Emma Stone kept going with the high school theme. This time, it was an extremely loose, modernized telling of The Scarlet Letter. Stone stars as Olive, a girl whose little lies amount to a massive reputation. After lying to her best friend that she lost her virginity, she gets a reputation as the school harlot. 

She allows boys to claim they’ve slept with her to boost their egos, and starts pinning an A on all her clothes, like Hester from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel. A love letter to many high school films of the ‘80s, Easy A constructs a clever narrative with a hilarious take on a classic.

3. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) – Hulu 2z5w1e

It is hard to pull off a movie that is quirky as well as sincere, but Little Miss Sunshine fits the bill. A celebrated film at Sundance, the movie stars a young Abigail Breslin as Olive Hoover, an aspiring beauty queen. Though not who you think of as a beauty queen in a traditional sense, her family s her implicitly as they drive from Albuquerque to California for a contest. The ing cast — which includes Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear, and Alan Arkin in an Oscar-winning turn — is just as important, as they all experience emotional setbacks during the film. Serious as well as comedic, Little Miss Sunshine earned all of its accolades.

4. Booksmart (2019) – Peacock 5w3q4r

Before the media firestorm that was Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde had a much more successful run in her directorial debut, Booksmart. A back-to-school movie from the female perspective, it follows best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), who have sacrificed high school social lives to get into good schools. 

On the last day of school, Molly is flabbergasted to learn that the popular kids also got into good colleges. Realizing that they wasted years of having fun, Molly and Amy decide to have one last hurrah at a high school party. Friendships are tested and laughs are had in a movie that shows nerds can have fun too.

5. The Edge of Seventeen (2016) – Amazon Prime 5l4623

No, the Hailee Steinfeld vehicle sadly does not have vocals from Stevie Nicks. But it does accurately portray the loneliness of coming of age. Steinfeld plays Nadine, a high schooler dealing with the trauma of growing up.

Still dealing with the death of her father, she feels even more alone when her best friend, Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) starts dating her popular brother (Blake Jenner). With a mother she can’t agree with, and a best friend being phased from her life, the only person she can seemingly connect with is her dry teacher, Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson). Many teen comedies can show the awkwardness of growing up, but The Edge of Seventeen does it with a level of truthfulness rarely seen. 

6. Ghost World (2001) – Apple TV 2h323w

Based on the Dan Clowes-penned comic of the same name, the 2001 cult film is a dark take on growing up. Though humorous, it posits themes of loss of individuality and the pain of moving on. After Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) graduate high school, they languish aimlessly in their hometown, unsure of what they should do with their lives. As summer progresses, the two grow apart, with their cynicism taking over the trajectory of their lives. Growing up is hard to experience and sometimes even harder to watch. But at least you can laugh while doing git.

7. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) – Apple TV 596e4u

As with all Wes Anderson films, Moonrise Kingdom has a specific perspective. Set against the backdrop of a fictional New England town, the film takes heavy inspiration from the French New Wave of the ‘60s. Lighthearted and humorous, it follows two adolescents, Suzy (Kara Hayward) and Sam (Jared Gilman), who find love in a hopeless place. They run away together, incurring a panic from the town as authority figures try to track them down. Moonrise Kingdom balances quirkiness with a nostalgic appreciation for young love.

8. Lisa Frankenstein (2024) – Amazon Prime 2t6q1v

Allegedly set in the same universe as Jennifer’s Body, Lisa Frankenstein takes a gothic look at young love. Kathryn Newton stars as Lisa, a teenager in the ‘80s who can’t connect with anyone. She spends her time talking to the corpse of a dead Victorian man in a graveyard (Cole Sprouse) until one day, he comes to life. Despite being from different times, the two find common ground and, of course, love. Lisa Frankenstein posits that there really is someone for everyone in a twist on the classic Mary Shelley tale.

9. Clueless (1995) – Hulu 5t5051

Adapted from the Jane Austen classic, Emma, Clueless takes the story of the oblivious matchmaker and sets her in a 1990’s California high school. Cher (Alicia Silverstone) seems to have it all. Looks, wealth, and no worries. After a new student, Tai (Brittany Murphy), transfers schools, Cher takes it upon herself to remake her in her own image. 

While these intentions come from a good place, everything Cher does ultimately backfires. She realizes she doesn’t understand anything, let alone her own heart. Despite Cher’s cluelessness, the film views the protagonist with love and appreciation as she finally realizes that love is in front of her the entire time.

10. Ladybird (2017) – Tubi 3k104l

Mother-daughter relationships are often fraught, and this is explored deeply in Greta Gerwig’s personal film, Ladybird. As with many teenage girls, Ladybird (Saoirse Ronan) is in transition. Though her given name is Christine, she has insisted on going by her self-proclaimed nickname as she traverses her final year of high school. Though her coming of age is painful, it is also humorous, and she ultimately accepts herself as she is and not who she is pretending to be.

11. Adventureland (2009) – Amazon Prime 6b6f3z

A period comedy set in the late ‘80s, Adventureland features the difficult period after college. When James (Jesse Eisenberg) realizes he doesn’t have enough money to travel abroad, he takes a job at an amusement park. There, he forms memories but also falls for a fellow employee, Em (Kristen Stewart). 

The chemistry between the two actors makes for a comedy for the ages, but it also shows the realism of relationships. Both make mistakes and come to with their shortcomings. With Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and Ryan Reynolds in ing roles, this offbeat dramedy is highly underrated. 

12. Saved! (2004) – Amazon Prime q6fi

Teen pregnancy is complicated enough, but throw in organized religion, and it’s a whole different set of circumstances. Mary (Jena Malone) believes herself to be a good Christian girl, but that changes when her boyfriend, Dean (Chad Faust), comes out to her. 

In an effort to save him, they have sex, which results in a teen pregnancy. Dean gets sent away to a Christian reform school, leaving Mary alone to deal with the ramifications. The further she gets along in her pregnancy, the more she sees the hypocrisy of her religious high school. Saved! sets the typical trope of teen pregnancy in an uncommon setting to show that love and acceptance comes out of the most unexpected places. 

13. Whip It (2009) – Hulu 244u1i

In Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It celebrates individuality in a world of conformity. Bliss Cavendar (Elliot Page) lives in small-town Texas, enduring her mother’s love of beauty pageants. Only when she discovers the world of roller derby, does she find out who she truly is. Page excels in the material that shows humor as well as the merits of finding your — well — bliss.

14. Young Adult (2011) – Amazon Prime 3r2o1l

Sometimes coming-of-age stories don’t always happen in our formative years. Sometimes achieving maturity takes a while, like in the case of the 2011 film, Young Adult. The dark comedy stars Charlize Theron as Mavis Gray, a recent divorcee who returns to her hometown to strike up a relationship with an old flame. 

The only problem is that her high school ex is now married with a baby. Mavis takes no part in the logic of those around her, such as Matt (Patton Oswalt), who urges her to seek therapy. Throughout her experiences, Mavis learns to become a better person — whether she wants to or not.

In many teen films, pregnancy is a consequence often followed by lessons to be learned. In Sugar & Spice, however, it is just the inciting incident. After a whirlwind romance, Jack (James Marsden) and Diane (Marley Shelton) get pregnant and quickly learn the realities of the world. 

The relationship between the two remains strong, but they still need to get ahead. And what can two high school students with no real-world experience do to get ahead? By robbing a bank, of course. Diane enlists the help of her cheerleading squad to be able to provide for her family. There is no moral lesson to be learned in this film. Just hilarious, campy fun.

16. Empire Records (1995) – Hulu 57524

Oh, the days when music was sold in record shops, and you could spend all day jamming with your friends. Empire Records is a relic of a different time, but always worth a rewatch. Taking place in the day of the life of working at the record store in question, five friends experience the trials of growing up while their boss tries to keep the store afloat. Accompanied by the classic music of the era, the film is a time capsule about love, loss, and the best times of your life.

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Few films bottled up a complex mix of melancholy and optimism quite like Little Miss Sunshine.

The 2006 dramedy, directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, follows an eclectic family as they venture across the country so that budding beauty queen Olive (played by Abigail Breslin) can compete in a beauty pageant. 

The all-star ensemble cast, which includes Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, and Paul Dano, deliver performances that touch on both the funny bone and the heartstrings — to the point where Little Miss Sunshine is rightfully considered an indie cult classic.

The film went on to receive four Academy Award nominations, and is ed for its heartfelt depiction of unconventional family dynamics, mental health, and remaining hopeful in the face of life’s obstacles. 

The effect of the movie can’t quite be put into words, but a few similar films have hit us in the feels in much the same way as Little Miss Sunshine. If you’re craving that slice of bittersweet wholesomeness, here’s 14 movies like Little Miss Sunshine (and where you can watch them). 

1. Ladybird (2017) w5v5

Ladybird and Little Miss Sunshine share a similar wavelength in that they both follow young female protagonists going about their ordinary lives. Both Olive and the titular Ladybird (played by Saoirse Ronan) have dreams to make it out of their small towns, but their journeys are complicated by family . Ladybird is big on both laughs and tears, and ends on a note of optimism despite the roadblocks the characters face. You can watch Ladybird on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. 

2. Silver Linings Playbook (2012) 5j1g7

In what follows like a grown-up version of Little Miss Sunshine, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook delves deeper into themes of mental health, and the connections we make to soothe it. Carrell’s character finds a match in Bradley Cooper’s Pat Solitano, who wrestles with his demons with both humor and heart. Both Silver Linings Playbook and Little Miss Sunshine end on a somewhat musical note, speaking to the optimism that courses through both films. Silver Linings Playbook is available to stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Apple TV. 

3. Booksmart (2019) 2o1sy

Leaning moreso into the comedic aspects of the dramedy genre, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart feels like the older sister of Little Miss Sunshine. The misadventures of the protagonists — played by Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever — might be what Olive would face as she enters highschool, with all three characters possessing the same loveable misfit energy. While it is certainly a comedy, Booksmart hits emotional touchpoints with a sense of levity much like Little Miss Sunshine. Booksmart is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

4. (500) Days of Summer (2009) 6m522v

There’s a cheerful quirkiness that courses through both Little Miss Sunshine and (500) Days of Summer, despite the two films’ depiction of sad themes. (500) Days of Summer follows the demise of a relationship between Tom (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zoey Deschanel), and while romance doesn’t play a big role in Little Miss Sunshine, both films explore the complexity of relationships. Both movies sustain the “feel-good” factor even when their characters are in crisis. (500) Days of Summer is available to stream on Hulu or Apple TV.      

5. Ruby Sparks (2012) 3v5g4u

The parallels between Ruby Sparks and Little Miss Sunshine might boil down to the fact that they are both directed by Faris and Dayton. The duo reunite with Dano for Ruby Sparks, which follows a struggling novelist who wills his female protagonist into existence and promptly falls in love. Like Little Miss Sunshine before it, Ruby Sparks packs an emotional punch while delivering rom-com style laughs. Ruby Sparks is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. 

6. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) z3x1s

While it is undoubtedly bigger in scale, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty possesses much of the same thematic points as Little Miss Sunshine. Both Olive and Walter (played by Ben Stiller) are eager to outgrow their current situations, and embark on a tumultuous journey filled with laughs, tears, and important lessons. Stiller, who also directed Walter Mitty, even cited Little Miss Sunshine as an influence while making the film. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. 

7. Juno (2007) 676p4e

Juno and Little Miss Sunshine share a similar sense of humor, and both find ways to make us laugh even during challenging moments. The 2007 movie follows the pregnancy journey of a teenage protagonist (played by Elliot Page), warming hearts with its endearing wit and optimistic sheen. Juno is available to stream on Hulu or Apple TV.

8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) kc4o

While it certainly heads to darker corners than Little Miss Sunshine, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower treads similar territory in its depiction of adolescence and mental health. Logan Lerrman stars in the coming-of-age tale as Charlie, a highschool student navigating the complexity of friendships and growing up. It might not pack the comedic chops of Little Miss Sunshine, but it certainly dances in the sweet spot of feel-good and emotionally resonant. Watch The Perks of Being a Wallflower on Hulu or Amazon Prime. 

9. Eighth Grade (2018) b6vl

The influence of social media on a young person’s life comes to the fore in Eighth Grade, an A24 film directed by Bo Burnham. Much like Olive before her, Kayla Day (played by Elsie Fisher) is a quirky heroine you can’t help but root for, even as the weight of social expectations seems pinned against her. In some alternate universe, Kayle and Olive are best friends. Eighth Grade is available to stream on Hulu or Amazon Prime.  

10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 2c2z17

You might think the only similarities would be in the word “sunshine,” and while Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is certainly headier than Little Miss Sunshine, both films are driven by sentimentality. The latter stars Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey as a recently separated couple who undergo surgery to remove their memories of each other. Needless to say, many tears and fond memories ensue, making for a happy-sad tale with all the traces of Little Miss Sunshine. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is available to stream on Peacock or Apple TV. 

11. About A Boy (2002) 346567

Another precocious protagonist is given the spotlight in About A Boy, the heartwarming 2002 film starring Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, and Nicholas Hoult. About A Boy is more schmaltzy than Little Miss Sunshine, and follows more like a rom-com in its depiction of an unlikely friendship, but it certainly possesses that same feel-good, childlike factor.  About A Boy is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. 

12. Mid90s (2018) 3f3t3b

Complicated family dynamics and the struggles of adolescence inform Jonah Hill’s 2018 directorial debut film Mid90s. Like Little Miss Sunshine before it, the coming-of-age movie details a quirky young protagonist’s journey to growth, influenced by family and guided by their tenacity. Both Little Miss Sunshine and Mid90s also have the naturalistic visual style that makes the story feel authentic. Mid90s is available to stream on Hulu or Amazon Prime. 

13. The Way, Way Back (2013) xc3l

Carrell and Collette reunite on The Way, Way Back, a coming-of-age story about a hapless teenager who finds from adults. Duncan (played by Liam James) escapes his chaotic family to befriend a worker at a local water park, with hilarious hijinks and emotional moments unfolding along the way. The Way, Way Back is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.  

14. Captain Fantastic (2016) 565we

The Hoover family of Little Miss Sunshine met their match with the Cash clan, the dysfunctional family at the centre of Captain Fantastic. The film follows two parents (played by Viggo Mortensen and Kathryn Hahn) as they raise their children in the wilderness, chronicling the fallout after Hahn’s character dies. Fans of chaotic family dynamics will find much to laugh at (and almost cry) in Captain Fantastic. It is available to stream on Hulu or Amazon Prime.

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Happy International Friendship Day, one and all! For more than 10 years but fewer than 13, the world has come together every 30th of July to honor the bonds of platonic kinship. There’s no wrong way to celebrate – buy your pal a paddleboard, or shoot them out of a cannon. Shoot them out of a cannon and onto the paddleboard you just bought them. Shout from the highest mountain, “I have friends!” and then call your friends to see if they’ll give you a ride off the top of the highest mountain. The odds are good that they won’t. Friendships don’t usually work that way.

So, here’s a better idea: Why not pull up some sofa and feast your eyes on one of the most enviable friendships in motion picture history? Living vicariously through your favorite movie characters is easier than mountain climbing anyway, plus you won’t get a reputation in your social circle as “the one who keeps asking us to drive up Mount Hood and pick them up.” Hey! Maybe your friends could come and watch one of these movies with you. They’d probably like that option better.

Kirk and Spock, The Wrath of Khan 5x3p5f

Yes, it’s basic. It’s the nerd friendship equivalent to a pumpkin spice candle. And no, I’m not sorry. Here’s why:

Enjoying science fiction has always been about picking your shots. On a good day, maybe 40% of a franchise is something you can recommend to your friends without feeling embarrassed. That said, if your best buds can’t get behind the reactor scene in Wrath of Khan, they’re not really your friends. 16 years after the debut of Kirk and Spock, the former finally faces a genuine no-win scenario, while the latter its he caught feelings. A friend that’ll hemorrhage internally from radiation exposure to keep you safe is a rare thing, but a friend who’ll watch you do it? That’s once in a lifetime. Twice if you’ve got a Genesis Device.

Shaun and Ed, Shaun of the Dead 5k3s3y

Everybody’s got a zombie survival plan, even if it’s a rough draft. It’s been stewing in the back of your head since the first time you watched a character in a Romero movie biff it and thought “I could do better than that.” What most people don’t have, however, is a plan for what they’re going to do once everything cools down. Great, you might spend a few months as the Wasteland King of the Lacrosse Aisle at Dick’s Sporting Goods, but who’s going to clean up your lawn once it’s time to go home?

Shaun of the Dead takes that question and molds it into a metaphor for adulthood: The responsibilities you take on, learning that relationships take work, watching your parents die, and seeing old acquaintances disappear into the crowd. Most importantly, it shows how an adult friendship progresses, necessarily, from adolescent shenanigans to mature compartmentalization. Your best friend can’t stay your roommate forever, but you can keep his undead remains in a shed playing Call of Duty. That’s a lesson we can all get behind.

Harry Burns and Sally Albright, When Harry Met Sally 3q5g4h

One of the harder truths that we face in life is that friendships, like all things, are impermanent. That doesn’t make them any less worth celebrating. Take Harry Burns and Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally. Their friendship, defined by a shared sense of humor and a mutual willingness to drop everything to take care of one another, was a slice cut out of time. It was a sedimentary layer of platonic affection, wedged between their introduction, when they hated each other, and the movie’s third act, when they ruined everything by getting married. 

Also, maybe movie interpretations are subjective.

Frodo and Sam, Lord of the Rings films 5y6s5u

Frodo Baggins and Samwise “The Truckinator” Gamgee have spent more than 20 years as the public’s go-to example of comradery through bad times. Maybe you see Sam’s choice to carry Frodo up the side of a volcano as analogous to ing a friend through depression, hardship, illness, or trauma. 

Or, depending on your outlook, you could look at Sam and Frodo as behaviorally identical to those two buddies who stay out too late celebrating a birthday. One of them gets super bummed and starts talking about how pointless everything is. A weird third party invites himself along halfway through the proceedings and won’t put on a shirt. At the end of the night, it’s up to the stronger person to make sure everyone gets where they’re going. “I can’t carry your pain for you, but I can get you an Uber,” they seem to say, and then politely ask the driver to leave the window rolled down.

Either way, every Frodo needs a Samwise.

Shang-Chi and Katy, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings 113918

Phase Four of the MCU has a lot to answer for, but one of the most pleasant surprises was the friendship it introduced between Katy and Shang-Chi back in 2021. You don’t get a ton of male/female friendships in pop culture, especially not ones where the end goal isn’t “they were in love the whole time.” Maybe I’ll wind up eating these words when The Kang Dynasty ends with a white wedding officiated by Lockjaw from Inhumans, but for now, ya done good, Marvel.

Han and Chewie, Star Wars IV-VI, the Holiday Special, and that’s all 6ld6j

The best friendships are, and always have been, based around an ancient pseudo-religious form of culturally mandated indentured servitude. Maybe that’s what makes Han and Chewie’s partnership so enduring for as long as you don’t watch The Force Awakens or Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Molly and Amy, Booksmart 1x93m

It was 2019. Nobody in America had developed a strong opinion about the Ant-Man movies yet, Don’t Worry, Darling was still a bad dream that Olivia Wilde had on a night when she ate curry and fell asleep watching Black Mirror under too many blankets, and a new standard was set for big screen female friendships thanks to Booksmart. 

If you’ve seen Booksmart, you know why Molly and Amy are on this list. If you haven’t seen Booksmart, go watch Booksmart. The central friendship and story in general are pretty remarkable in that they keep improving, right up until the last two syllables of dialogue in the film. 

Wyatt and Doc, Tombstone 5e4l5j

It’s not easy, being a jerk. More often than not, you wind up on your own, too afraid of your own failings to reach out to others. Paralyzed by your own inadequacy, you ice out more and more of the people in your life. Maybe you get a job as an entertainment writer and deflect from your own shortcomings by taking easy shots at Don’t Worry Darling. Maybe you’ve been drinking.

Unfortunately for Doc Holliday in Tombstone, they didn’t have entertainment news websites back in the 19th century. They just had tuberculosis and a shockingly solid handle on mustache maintenance. 

They also had Wyatt Earp, the only guy in the whole movie who smiles when Doc walks into a room. Upon being asked why he’s following Wyatt on his revenge ride, Doc says “Wyatt Earp is my friend.” “I’ve got lots of friends,” his cohort replies. “I don’t,” says Doc. What that movie lacked in historical accuracy, it more than made up for in making you care about a dentist.

Jay and Silent Bob, The Askewniverse 676e2d

Read the holy texts – more specifically, the words superimposed over the opening shot of 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back – and you’ll be struck by how long Jay and Bob have been hanging out. They met in the ‘70s. They staked their claim outside of the Quick Stop. They built a home for themselves against the wall of a VHS rental establishment and spent the next five decades being borderline inseparable. 

And that’s what real friendship is, isn’t it? It’s not about staying close when things are easy. It’s about committing to your life mate through it all. Through the good times and the bad. Through Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. From the early, optimistic days, chronicled with a handheld camera and a boom mic taped to the end of a hockey stick, to Clerks III, a movie so relentlessly onanistic that air marshals are legally required to zip tie Kevin Smith’s hands to his armrests if he tries to watch it on a plane. 

Barb and Star, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar n6w41

You think you’ve got a best friend? Really? What’s the longest that the two of you have talked about a hypothetical storm chaser named Trish and her valiant battle with skin cancer? Less than the length of an entire cross-country flight? You know nothing of friendship.

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is a perfect movie in its own right. Seriously, no notes. And what drives it – more than Yoyo or seagulls or the promise that Jamie Dornan might one day be a part of an official couple – is the friendship between its title characters. It’s a friendship that can survive anything, even a lot of mosquitos and a banana boat ride that HR says we’re not allowed to describe here.

A Small Light, a series about those who tried to protect Anne Frank, has been picked up by National Geographic, and will stream exclusively on Disney Plus.

First reported by Deadline, Disney Plus has scooped the rights to the miniseries about one of Anne Frank’s protectors, Miep Gies, for a seven-part miniseries.

A Small Light will follow Frank’s days in hiding during the Second World War in the Netherlands. Gies had assisted in hiding Frank and her family away, kept them safe, and upon the arrest of the Frank family, made it her duty to keep Anne Frank’s diary and have it published.

In 1987, Gies released a book about the events, titled Anne Frank ed: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family. Gies had also helped hide several other at-risk people from the Nazi regime, which will also be chronicled in the series.

Miep Gies was knighted by the Order of Orange-Nassau from Queen Beatrix for her role in hiding Dutch Jews from the Nazis and is a symbol of both allyship and humanity.

Prior to her death in 2010, Gies always humbly refuted being a hero, quoted as saying “I don’t like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others.

“Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room,” the quote continues, inspiring the title of the new series.

The miniseries will be executive produced by Grey’s Anatomy duo Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, and Susanna Fogel (Booksmart).

The crash-into-a-brick-wall realization that jumpstarts Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart occurs where the juiciest gossip so often takes place in teen flicks: a high school bathroom. Class president and general good-doer Molly (Beanie Feldstein) is sitting in a toilet stall, spell-checking some of the magic marker graffiti around her when she overhears three of the cool kids tear apart her can-do, will-do personality. Molly storms out and gives them what for, forecasting a near future in which she’s excelling at any Ivy League school while these cruel, simpleminded bullies won’t be able to land a job. In another movie, this would’ve been a moment of triumph – a fist-raising patronage to those students who do their time in and out of the classroom wholeheartedly and with complete dedication. But those are other movies. Here, Molly’s comeback is discredited, instead converted into a snobbish and ignorant series of assumptions as the partyers she assumed were near braindead from blunts and booze list out post-graduation plans just as, if not more, impressive than her own. As the dastardly nicknamed “Triple A” (Molly Gordon) informs her, “we just don’t only care about school,” Molly’s way of being is suddenly and brutally upended. Is it possible to work hard and party hard? In a strange, but wonderful way, Booksmart similarly topples over any expectations we may’ve beset not only upon it – coming out of SXSW, it was simplified by many as “Superbad with girls” – but the teenage genre as a whole. This is an advantageous and revolutionary glimpse at young life, one that’s centered around and made possible by the proudly receptive and diverse generations of our era. It’s strange how refreshing it feels watching young women talk so freely, if awkwardly, about sex, but that’s because the film emits an almost identical sense of welcoming as the teens its portraying. This is also enforced by how comfortable the film is discussing Molly’s best friend Amy’s (Kaitlyn Dever) homosexuality, a rare quality of mainstream cinema. Broken down to its simplest form, the plot’s comparisons to Superbad aren’t totally unfair. The night before their high school graduation, Molly and the equally studious Amy decide to break loose and tap into the party scene for the first time. Along the way, there’s a fun-filled, but guest-empty yacht, an incredibly awkward Lyft ride, and one of the funniest drug trips I can in a movie. Though fans of McLovin and other teen party comedies may find some of these sequences familiar, Wilde’s able to distinguish her project from the others. Instilling the philosophies of both girls deep into the film, Booksmart’s prioritizations of things like friendship and feminism over hooking up and boozing draw out the characters, creating fully fleshed young women, instead of immature, stereotypical brat girls. And once the director does begin to navigate through the storms of teenage love, and the cringeworthy, hormone-driven drama that comes with it, Wilde never loses our interest. The screenplay, written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman, is funny, concious, and most importantly, funny about being conscious. Trying to determine whether or not the girl Amy’s crushing on is also gay, she says that Ryan’s (Victoria Ruesga) tattoos, piercings, and short haircut make up her “gender performance” and therefore, not her sexual identity. The achievement of the writing here and throughout the entire film is the atmosphere of progression without ever cramming it down the audiences’ throats. But what’s perhaps most impressive about Booksmart is the sheer force with which actress-turned-director Olivia Wilde commands the screen. While she may occasionally fall victim to the temptation of showcasing stylistic, but otherwise unnecessary shots, her acting background surely benefitted the star-making performances she draws out of Feldstein and Dever. There’s a confrontation once Molly and Amy make it to the big party in which the powers of the three women combine to create a ferociously encapsulating experience. It alone is worth the price of ission.